Justice must triumph, and even more so in court. There are cases when people were sentenced to imprisonment for a criminal act in which they were innocent.
Our list contains 10 crazy cases when “Themis” punished the completely innocent. These people suffered a large number of trials and hardships due to erroneous actions of the judicial system.
10. William Dillon
The gifted 21-year-old baseball boy had only a couple of days left to test his pitcher role in the Detroit Tigers game in 1981. However, his dreams were crushingly destroyed - he was arrested on murder charges in Florida.
William Dillon was convicted of what he did not. He had a proven alibi, but it was as if he was seen on the beach near a dead body. Dillon was rehabilitated and released from custody 27 years after the court decision. This was made possible by the results of DNA testing and the efforts of the Innocence Project.
Dillon did not stick up and became a musician playing in a group with the same convicts, who were subsequently rehabilitated.
9. Anthony Porter
In 1982, shots killed two young guys in the stands, which overlooked the pool in Washington Park. Anthony Porter was charged, convicted, and sentenced to death with a criminal injection.
Two days before the execution, with the help of a lethal injection, Porter was given a reprieve in the State Supreme Court. The investigation revealed the low intellectual abilities of the convict to understand what is happening.
The delay helped continue Anthony's case, which led to a change in testimony of the main witness. In addition, the offender made a confession to the murder on a video camera. Anthony was released from prison after a couple of days.
8. James Richardson
In 1967, James Richardson was illegally convicted and detained due to the poisoning of 7 of his children, who subsequently died.
He spent 21 years in prison for an imperfect crime. It turned out that the authorities and prosecutors who issued the indictment did this on purpose, to receive insurance money.
Over the years, the nanny who worked for the Richardsons confessed to the crime. James was released from custody, and he came to his hometown of Arcadia in Florida.
7. Gerard Richardson
A small bite mark entailed Gerard Richardson's acquittal and the annulment of the sentence in the murder of a 19-year-old girl. The teenager was found dead in the gutter of Bernards Township in New Jersey in 1994. And they were accused of this terrible murder of Gerard, after the proof given by the prosecutor in the form of a bite mark.
Using a DNA test, in October 2013, the Project Innocence organization was able to prove in court that the bite marks were made by another man. After almost 20 years, Richardson’s imprisonment was released.
6. Robert Dewey
In 1994, Robert Dewey was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released after 17 years, when it turned out that he was innocent. At that time, there was already a DNA examination, with its help they acquitted Dewey, who was convicted of the murder of a 19-year-old girl in the Palisade. Colorado.
Robert was paid compensation for the illegal arrest, but he could not get to the funeral of his son. In addition, he could not attend the birth of his grandchildren - all this happened due to erroneous actions of the judicial system.
5. Kirk Bloodsworth
Kirk Bloodsworth, sentenced to death by injection, was released on the basis of a DNA test. He was convicted of rape with the murder of a 9-year-old girl in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1985. He spent almost 9 years in prison, 2 years he was awaiting execution. But his lawyer managed to find evidence, they were checked using a DNA test. The result was the release of Kirk and the discovery of the real criminal.
4. James Bane
James Bane was sentenced with a life sentence for robbery with theft and rape in 1974.
However, when they did the DNA test, it turned out that James was completely innocent and was released after 8 months. 35 years turned out to be too long for an innocent and state compensation in the amount of $ 1.7 million.
3. Larry Davis and Alan Northrop
After serving 18 years from a 20-year sentence, on charges of forced sexual assault with a housekeeper, two guys were released from prison. They were paid several million dollars each after finding innocence confirmed by DNA testing. Larry Davis and Alan Northrop were serving their sentences in a prison in Washington, because there was no DNA testing yet.
When this test became available, Project Innocence employees at the University of Washington took up their duties, resulting in Northrop and Davis being found not guilty in 2010.
The state paid a cash refund of $ 5.2 million each.
2. Daryl Burton
In St. Louis, Daryl was illegally accused of a gas station murder in 1984. He was given a life sentence in prison.
Although Burton was sentenced to life, he was rehabilitated in 2008. The judge released Daryl, taking into account the concealment of evidence of innocence from the jury in the trial.
1. Juan Rivera
The man was not a criminal, but the police put such pressure on him in the process of inquiry that he was forced to admit to what he had not done. He was given 20 years in prison, even though he did not deserve it.
Juan Rivera was subsequently acquitted in 2012 and released. The man was relieved of responsibility for raping and killing an 11-year-old teenager in 1992 in Waukegan. Illinois.
Rivera was convicted 3 times, and a DNA test showed that the girl had been raped by others. Later, all convictions were quashed.