On March 10, 2015, Angel Gonzalez was exonerated after serving over 20 years in prison for a rape that he did not commit. Although Gonzalez maintained his innocence from the beginning, it wasn’t until 2013 that he was finally able to prove his innocence through DNA testing

On March 10, 2015, Angel Gonzalez was exonerated and freed from prison in Ilinois after spending over 20 years of his life in prison for a rape that he did not commit. In 1994, Gonzalez was misidentified by a rape victim as the man who attacked herwhen police used a highly unreliable and suggestive identification procedure. After he was arrested, he was then misled by police into signing a false confession. Despite having four alibi witnesses testify in his defense in court, Gonzalez was wrongfuly convicted of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Although Gonzalez maintained his innocence from the beginning, it wasn’t until 2013 that he was finally able to prove his innocence through DNA testing. Today he is a member of the Innocence Project Exoneree Advisory Group.

Carlos Sanchez spent nearly 25 years—more than half of his life— in prison for a murder he and his attorneys maintained he did not commit.

Carlos Sanchez spent nearly 25 years—more than half of his life— in prison for a murder he and his attorneys maintain he did not commit before he was granted parole in January 2017 and released in May 2017. Sanchez was only 17 when, after an eight-hour interrogation by police without a lawyer or guardian present, he signed a confession taking responsibility for the 1992 murder of his girlfriend. The confession was the only evidence linking him to the crime, and it was taken under circumstances now known to be associated with false confessions. The statement was also at odds with physical evidence collected in the case.

“A part of me is irritated, angry and disgruntled because I went above and beyond for this country and was repaid by being convicted of a crime I didn’t commit.”

Clay Chabot, a former operations specialist for the U.S Navy, maintained his innocence throughout the 22 years he spent in prison for the 1986 murder of a young Texas woman. After post-conviction DNA tests excluded Chabot and identified another man as the source of critical evidence from the scene, Chabot’s conviction was vacated in 2009. Despite the powerful new DNA and other evidence of Chabot’s innocence, prosecutors announced they would put him on trial a second time. Having already served more than two decades of a life sentence, Chabot accepted a plea bargain, agreeing to plead guilty to the murder in exchange for a sentence of time served. His plea bargain would allow him to go home for good.

“While I will never be able to regain the many years I lost in prison, I hope that my experience will motivate our lawmakers to pass the eyewitness identification reform bill so that others don’t have to suffer like I did.”

On November 23, 1979, a woman was raped and robbed in Texas. Cornelius Dupree was arrested the following month because he resembled a suspect from a different sexual assault and robbery case. However, Dupree did not match the description of the person who committed the  e November carjacking. Nonetheless. Dupree was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 75 years in prison. After spending 30 years of his his life locked up for a crime he did not commit, Cornelius Dupree was released on parole on July 22, 2010. Less than two weeks after his release, initial DNA testing indicated that Dupree was innocent of the crime. Later tests confirmed these results, leading to the trial judge declaring him innocent on January 4, 2011. Post release, Dupree became a member of the Innocence Project’s Exoneree Advisory Council, where he works with both the Innocence Project staff and other exonerees to fight for criminal justice reform.

Dewey Bozella served 26 years in New York prisons for a crime he didn’t commit before he was cleared and released in 2009. Since his release, Bozella has been teaching boxing skills and discipline to young people. For his triumph over adversity, he was given the 2011 ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Dewey Bozella served 26 years in New York prisons for a crime he didn’t commit before he was proven innocent and freed in 2009. Bozella was arrested for a 1977 burglary and murder of a 92-year-old woman, but the charges were dropped because there was no evidence linking him to the crime. He was rearrested for the crime six years later after two prison informants told prosecutors that Bozella committed the murder. Based solely on those informants’ testimonies, Bozella was wrongfully convicted. Attorneys at the Innocence Project  and WilmerHale uncovered exculpatory evidence that was never turned over to Bozella’s defense team. Based on this, he was exonerated and freed. Bozella now teaches boxing skills and discipline to young people. His dream is to one day open his own gym. For his triumph over adversity, he was given the 2011 ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage Award. He serves on the Innocence Project Exoneree Advisory Council.

“I believe in justice, but it doesn’t always come easy, so we must persevere through our troubling times to reach that light at the end of the tunnel, No matter what we are facing in life, never give up.”

In July 1981, a 74-year-old woman was attacked while sleeping in her home in Ogden, Kansas.  Eddie James Lowery, who was 22 years old at the time and a soldier stationed at Fort Riley, was interrogated about the attack after he was involved in a traffic accident near the victim’s house. Lowery was questioned all day without food and was told he did not need a lawyer although he requested one. Investigators supplied Lowery with details of the crime – the house, the manner of entry, the weapon, and specifics about the rape. These details were eventually incorporated into his confession. Although Lowery recanted the statements and his attorney filed a motion to suppress them, the court ruled that the confession was made voluntarily and allowed it into the trial. The confession became the cornerstone of the prosecution’s case. Lowery was sentenced to 11 years to life in prison. In September 2002, DNA test results confirmed that Lowery was indeed innocent. In April 2003, Lowery was exonerated.

“As an exoneree, I believe I worked harder for my freedom than I did to enter this world.”

Fernando Bermudez, at age 21, was wrongly convicted of killing a teenager outside of a night club in New York City. Bermudez became a suspect based on an eyewitness who picked him out in a police photo lineup. In 1993 despite four alibi witnesses and no forensic evidence linking him to the crime, he was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 23 years to life in prison. The following year the witnesses recanted their testimony of seeing Bermudez commit the crime but it was not until 1999 that a judge overturned his conviction. He spent 18 years in prison yet still managed to start a family and have three children. Now a massive advocate for reform, Fernando has shared his experience and message with audiences around the world.

On April 23, 2007, Jerry Miller became the 200th person in the United States exonerated through DNA evidence. Though he had been paroled a year earlier, Miller had spent more than 24 years in the Illinois prison system for a rape that he did not commit. His conviction was based solely on eyewitness misidentification. The Innocence Project took on Miller’s case in 2005. After DNA testing excluded Miller, the Cook County State Attorney’s Office joined the Innocence Project and the Cook County Public Defender’s Office in a joint motion to vacate and dismiss Miller’s conviction. Post incarceration, Miller has been a vocal advocate for justice reform, with an emphasis on the weakness of witness identification. He is also a member of the Innocence Project’s Exoneree Advisory Council.

“I believe that the innocent should be separated from any and all prosecutions in our judicial system. No correlation should exist. Having a separated agency that reviews and impartially declares innocence would eliminate wrongful convictions forever.”

In 1990, 18-year-old Johnny Hincapie was wrongfully convicted in the murder case of Brian Watkins in New York. Hincapie falsely confessed to the attack after he was physically intimidated and psychologically coerced by an investigator on the case. Hincapie testified that the cop beat him and yelled racial slurs. In 2015, based on new testimony from two witnesses as well as a co-defendant who said that Hincapie was not involved in the attack, a New York judge overturned his conviction. Hincapie was exonerated after he spent 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Today, Johnny—a gifted speaker—shares his powerful story along with education on coerced confessions and criminal justice reform at organizations across the United States.

After the Virginia Supreme Court granted a writ of actual innocence, Keith Allen Harward walked out of a Virginia prison on April 8, 2016, after spending more than 33 years of a life sentence for a rape and murder he did not commit.

After the Virginia Supreme Court granted a writ of actual innocence, Keith Allen Harward walked out of a Virginia prison on April 8, 2016, after spending more than 33 years of a life sentence for a rape and murder he did not commit. Despite testifying in his own defense and presenting evidence he didn’t match the victim’s description, Harward was wrongfully convicted of capital murder but was spared the death penalty by the jury. Harward, was convicted primarily on the testimony of two forensic dentists who said that Harward’s teeth matched marks left on the rape victim. During the course of his prosecution six forensic dentists falsely claimed that Harward’s teeth matched a bite mark on one of the victims. New DNA evidence definitively proved Harward’s innocence and pointed to another man as the real assailant. Harward is one of eight people whose story is in the Innocence Project-inspired Netflix docuseries The Innocence Files now available for streaming.

“They said if I was there and if I went along with it, that I could go home. And that’s all I wanted. That’s all I wanted, was to go home.”

On the night of April 19, 1989, a 28-year-old female jogger was brutally attacked and raped in New York’s Central Park. After prolonged periods of police interrogation, five teenagers—including Korey Wise—falsely confessed to being involved in the attack. Then 16 years old, Wisewas tried as an adult and wrongfully convicted of assault, sexual abuse, and riot. He was sentenced to five to fifteen years in prison. In early 2002, Matias Reyes,who had been convicted of murder and rape, admitted that he alone was responsible for the attack on the Central Park jogger. On December 19, 2002, based on new DNA evidence that proved Korey’s innocence and on the recommendation of the Manhattan District Attorney, Wise’s conviction was overturned. He spent  11.5 years of his life in prison for crimes he did not commit. The investigation has raised questions regarding police coercion and false confessions, as well as the vulnerability of juveniles during police interrogations.

“It’s been a long, long journey and I’m thankful we’ve reached this point. I stand here for that 16-year-old boy who didn’t have anyone to protect him, and the adults didn’t protect him at that time.”

In 1991, Huwe Burton was wrongfully convicted of murdering his mother and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. The wrongful conviction was based on a false confession which was coerced by police despite them having compelling evidence that the man who lived downstairs from the Burton’s had committed the crime. Burton was just 16 years old. Burton recanted his confession and spent more than 20 years wrongfully incarcerated until he was released on parole in 2009. All the while, he was working with his legal team to prove his innocence.. .. In January of 2019, after an intensive joint investigation between the Innocence Project and the  Bronx e Conviction Review Unit, the district attorney’s office submitted a recommendation for dismissal of charges against Burton.. Burton was finally exonerated. . Today, Burton lectures around the country about false confessions and unreliable police interrogation techniques.  He is an avid marathon runner, and has been featured on HBO’s.

An ineffective trial lawyer and flawed eyewitness identification procedure destroyed the lives of Malcolm Alexander and his family for 38 years. Alexander was exonerated in January of 2018. He is the Innocence Project’s longest-serving exonerated client.

An ineffective trial lawyer and flawed eyewitness identification procedure destroyed the lives of Malcolm Alexander and his family for 38 years. In February 1980, a white woman accused Alexander, who is black, of sexual assault in Louisiana. Alexander maintained his innocence. A review of the one-day trial transcript revealed that his attorney, who was subsequently disbarred, failed to make an opening statement, did not call any witnesses for the defense, failed to adequately cross-examine the state’s witnesses, and presented a closing argument that was a mere four pages of the 87-page transcript. Alexander was wrongfully convicted and received a life sentence. Alexander never gave up the fight to prove his innocence. In 2013, hair evidence recovered from the location where the rape took place was found at the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab. Three crime scene hairs had the same DNA profile that did not match to Alexander or the victim. Alexander was exonerated in January of 2018. He is the Innocence Project’s longest-serving exonerated client. Today he is a member of the Innocence Project Exoneree Advisory Council.

On September 12, 1994 Michelle Murphy’s 15-week-old son was brutally stabbed to death. The police interrogated Murphy for several hours, and coerced her into claiming that she accidentally killed her baby when she knelt down to pick up a knife.

On September 12, 1994 Michelle Murphy’s 15-week-old son was brutally stabbed to death. Murphy, just 17 at the time, was in her apartment with her new son and other child on the night of the murder. Murphy later woke up and discovered her child’s body in the kitchen, and immediately went to a neighbor and called the police.  The police interrogated Murphy for several hours, and coerced her into claiming that she accidentally killed her baby when she knelt down to pick up a knife. At trial, the prosecution falsely implied to the jury that blood recovered from the scene matched Murphy’s blood type. Subsequent DNA testing of crime scene evidence pointed to an unknown male as the real perpetrator. In the course of representing Murphy, lawyers also uncovered other evidence pointing to Murphy’s innocence that was known to the prosecution at the time of trial but never disclosed to the defense. She was exonerated in September of 2014, almost 20 years to the day that she tragically lost her son.

“A part of me is irritated, angry and disgruntled because I went above and beyond for this country and was repaid by being convicted of a crime I didn’t commit.”

Clay Chabot, a former operations specialist for the U.S Navy, maintained his innocence throughout the 22 years he spent in prison for the 1986 murder of a young Texas woman. After post-conviction DNA tests excluded Chabot and identified another man as the source of critical evidence from the scene, Chabot’s conviction was vacated in 2009. Despite the powerful new DNA and other evidence of Chabot’s innocence, prosecutors announced they would put him on trial a second time. Having already served more than two decades of a life sentence, Chabot accepted a plea bargain, agreeing to plead guilty to the murder in exchange for a sentence of time served. His plea bargain would allow him to go home for good.