Conviction review
Convictions that were overturned, and innocence claims courts are ruling on this week. Read what the evidence was and where it broke.
James Calvin Tillman
James Calvin Tillman (born 1961) is a man who was wrongfully convicted of rape, and served 18.5 years in prison before being exonerated by DNA testing on July 11, 2006. Tillman, of East Hartford Connecticut, was convicted of kidnapping in the first degree, sexual assault in the first degree, robbery and assault in the third degree in 1989, and freed in 2007.
2006 · ConnecticutExonerated 2006James Tillman
In 1989, James Tillman was wrongly convicted of a rape he did not commit in Hartford, Connecticut. He was later exonerated in 2006.
2018 · ConnecticutExonerated 2018Alfred Swinton
In March 2018, Alfred Swinton was exonerated of a 1991 murder that he did not commit in Hartford, Connecticut.
2025 · Connecticut Appellate CourtIn courtBalbuena v. Commissioner of Correction
Connecticut Appellate Court issued an opinion on March 18, 2025 that deals with an innocence claim. From the opinion: “…and that the recantation was newly discovered evidence that was not available at the…”
2022 · ConnecticutExonerated 2022Leroy Harris
In 2022, more than 33 years after Leroy Harris was convicted of sexual assault and robbery in New Haven, Connecticut, he was granted an absolute pardon.