Conviction review
Convictions that were overturned, and innocence claims courts are ruling on this week. Read what the evidence was and where it broke.
Jason Flom
Jason Flom (born February 17, 1961) is an American music industry executive, podcaster and philanthropist. He is the founder of Lava Records, and previously served as the chairman of Atlantic Records, Virgin Records and Capitol Music Group. He is also known for his advocacy on behalf of individuals who have been wrongfully convicted.
Year unknownOverturnedJohn David Provoo
John David Provoo (August 6, 1917 – August 28, 2001) was a United States Army staff sergeant and practicing Buddhist who was convicted of treason for his conduct as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II. His conviction was later overturned on a technicality, and he became a Buddhist priest.
1944 · South CarolinaOverturned
George Stinney
George Junius Stinney Jr. (October 21, 1929 – June 16, 1944) was an African American boy who was wrongfully executed at the age of 14 after being convicted, during an unfair trial, for the murders of two white girls – 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker (December 9, 1932 – March 22, 1944) and 8-year-old Mary Emma Thames (March 14, 1936 – March 22, 1944) – in his hometown of Alcolu, South Carolina. He was tried,…
1895Overturned
Maria Barbella
Maria Barbella (October 24, 1868 – March 24, 1950) was an Italian-born American woman. Erroneously known as Maria Barberi at the time, she was the second woman sentenced to die in the electric chair. She was convicted of killing Domenico Cataldo in 1895, but the ruling was overturned in 1896 and she was freed.
2000 · IndianaOverturned
Wrongful conviction of David Camm
David Ray Camm (born March 23, 1964) is a former trooper of the Indiana State Police (ISP) who spent 13 years in prison after twice being wrongfully convicted of the murders of his wife, Kimberly, and his two young children at their home in Georgetown, Indiana, on September 28, 2000. He was released from custody in 2013 after his third trial resulted in an acquittal. Charles Boney is serving time for the murders of…
1988 · OklahomaOverturnedRon Williamson
Ronald Keith Williamson (February 3, 1953 – December 4, 2004) was an American former minor league baseball catcher and pitcher, who was one of two men wrongly convicted in 1988 in Oklahoma for the rape and murder of Debra Sue "Debbie" Carter. His former friend Dennis Fritz was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Williamson was sentenced to death. Both were released 11 years later when DNA evidence proved their…
1975 · TexasOverturnedRobert Elmer Kleason
Robert Elmer Kleasen (September 20, 1934 – April 21, 2003) was an American who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1975 for the murder of two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, near Austin, Texas. The murders have popularly, albeit inaccurately, been cited as an inspiration for the horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Kleasen's conviction was later overturned and Kleasen…
1986 · PennsylvaniaOverturnedJay C. Smith
Jay C. Smith (June 5, 1928 – May 12, 2009) was an American high school principal in Pennsylvania who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1986 for the 1979 murder of one of his school's teachers, Susan Reinert, and her two children, Karen and Michael. His conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1992, based on findings of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct. Smith subsequently filed…
2010 · TexasOverturned
Tom DeLay campaign finance trial
Tom DeLay, a Republican U.S. Representative from Texas from 1979–83, and from 1985–2006 and the House Majority Leader from 2003–05, was convicted in 2010 of money laundering and conspiracy charges related to illegal campaign finance activities aimed at helping Republican candidates for Texas state office in the 2002 elections. In 2013, a Texas Court of Appeals panel acquitted DeLay when it overturned his conviction.…
1977 · TexasOverturnedKerry Max Cook
Kerry Max Cook (born 1956) is an American former death row inmate who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards in 1977. On June 19, 2024, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals determined that he was actually innocent, citing a litany of prosecutorial misconduct and errors.
1983OverturnedAnthony Porter
Anthony Porter (December 14, 1954 – July 5, 2021) was a Chicago resident convicted and sentenced to death in 1983 for the murder of two teenagers on the South Side of the city. He served 16 years on death row before he was exonerated in 1999 after new evidence was uncovered by Northwestern University professors and students from the Medill School of Journalism as part of their investigation for the school's…
1987 · North CarolinaOverturnedDarryl Hunt
Darryl Hunt (February 24, 1965 – March 13, 2016) was an African-American man from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who, in 1984, was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and the murder of Deborah Sykes, a young white newspaper copy editor. After being convicted in that case, Hunt was tried in 1987 for the 1983 murder of Arthur Wilson, a 57-year-old black man of Winston-Salem. Both…
1976OverturnedRandall Dale Adams
Randall Dale Adams (December 17, 1948 – October 30, 2010) was an American man wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death after the 1976 shooting of Dallas police officer Robert W. Wood. His conviction was overturned in 1989. Adams staunchly maintained his innocence throughout.
2003Overturned
Michael Peterson trial
Michael Iver Peterson (born October 23, 1943) is an American novelist who was convicted in 2003 of murdering his second wife, Kathleen Peterson, on December 9, 2001. In 2011, after eight years in prison, Peterson was released from prison after being granted a new trial. In a review of an appeal, the judge had ruled that a critical prosecution witness in the first trial gave misleading testimony.
1995Overturned
Johnson Chesnut Whittaker
Johnson Chesnut Whittaker (August 23, 1858 – January 14, 1931) was one of the first black men to win an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. When at the academy, he was brutally assaulted and then expelled after being falsely accused and convicted of faking the incident. Over sixty years after his death, his name was formally cleared when he was posthumously commissioned by President Bill…
1983OverturnedEdwin P. Wilson
Edwin Paul Wilson (May 3, 1928 – September 10, 2012) was a former CIA and Office of Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. It was later found that the United States Department of Justice had relied on a false affidavit when prosecuting Wilson; as a result, Wilson's convictions were overturned in 2003 and he was freed the following year.
1954Overturned
Sam Sheppard
Samuel Holmes Sheppard ((1923-12-29)December 29, 1923 – (1970-04-06)April 6, 1970) was an American osteopathic physician. He was convicted of the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard, but the conviction was eventually overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which cited a "carnival atmosphere" at the trial. Sheppard was acquitted at a retrial in 1966.
1966 · New JerseyOverturned
Rubin Carter
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (May 6, 1937 – April 20, 2014) was an American middleweight boxer who was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for murder, until released following a petition of habeas corpus after spending 18 years and 4 months in prison. In 1966, Carter and his co-accused, John Artis, were arrested for a triple homicide which was committed at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey, United…
1987 · TexasOverturnedErnest Willis
Ernest Ray Willis (August 17, 1945 – January 7, 2021) was an American man who spent 17 years on death row for an alleged double murder by arson before being exonerated in 2004. Convicted of murder after two women died in a fire in the West Texas home where he was living at the time, Willis was sentenced to death in 1987. In 1991, another death row inmate, David Martin Long, confessed to starting the fire.
2023 · CaliforniaOverturned
Alissa Bjerkhoel
Alissa Leanne Bjerkhoel (pronounced byeer-kul) Is a Superior Court Judge for Nevada County, California. She was appointed to the bench on November 23 2023, and started serving on December 4 of same year. Prior to this she was an American litigation coordinator at the California Innocence Project (CIP).
1981 · TexasOverturnedClarence Brandley
Clarence Lee Brandley (September 24, 1951 – September 2, 2018) was an American man who was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of Cheryl Dee Fergeson in 1981 and sentenced to death. Brandley was working as a janitor supervisor at Conroe High School in Conroe, Texas when the 16-year-old student Fergeson was a visiting athlete from Bellville, Texas. Brandley was held for nine years on death row.
1984 · LouisianaOverturnedConviction and exoneration of Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford (October 29, 1949 – June 29, 2015) was convicted of murder in 1984 and released from Angola Prison in March 10, 2014 after a full exoneration. Ford was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was the longest-serving death-row inmate in the United States to be exonerated before his death.
2026 · Supreme Court of ArkansasIn courtKevin Dixon v. State of Arkansas
Supreme Court of Arkansas issued an opinion on November 12, 2026 that deals with an innocence claim. From the opinion: “…method of testing sought would prove his actual innocence. The trial court denied the petition, finding…”
2026 · Supreme Court of ArkansasIn courtMartinous Moore v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Division of Correction
Supreme Court of Arkansas issued an opinion on November 12, 2026 that deals with an innocence claim. From the opinion: “…by law he or she is entitled to bail, or actual innocence.” Farrakhan v. Payne, 2026 Ark. 144, at 1–2…”