Texas
Burleson County
Anthony Charles Graves was convicted of the August 18, 1992 mass murder of six people in Somerville, after being implicated in the crime by Robert Carter - the father of one of the victims. Carter was executed in May 2000 for his part in the crime - and in his final statement took sole responsibility for the crime: "To the Davis family, I am sorry for all of the pain that I caused your family. It was me and me alone. Anthony Graves had nothing to do with it. I lied on him in court. ... Anthony Graves don't even know anything about it".
After spending 12 years on Death Row, Graves' conviction was overturned on March 3, 2006 by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals when, in an a unanimous opinion, a three judge panel held that the state’s case had hinged on Carter’s perjured testimony, and concluded that the Prosecutor, Charles Sebesta, had intentionally withheld evidence that could have helped Graves; most notably that Carter had recanted right before he testified at Grave's August 1992 trial.
Graves was held for an additional four years in solitary confinement in the Burleson County jail awaiting retrial until October 27, 2010, when he was released after all charges were dismissed by Burleson County Special Prosecutor Kelly Siegler, who concluded, "He’s an innocent man. There is nothing that connects Anthony Graves to this crime."
Graves was awarded $1.4 million dollars by the State of Texas in June 2011 for his wrongful conviction.
Dallas County
Randall Dale Adams was sentenced to death for of the 1976 murder of a police officer. He was exonerated in 1989.
Cornelius Dupree was convicted of aggravated robbery, which was alleged to have been committed during a rape in 1979. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison and paroled during the summer of 2010. After DNA evidence cleared him of the crime, he was declared innocent in January 2011. His 30 years of imprisonment is the longest of any exonerated inmate in Texas.
Montgomery County
Clarence Brandley was sentenced to death for the 1980 rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl. He was exonerated in 1990.
Smith County
Kerry Max Cook was sentenced to death for the 1977 murder of a 21-year-old secretary. He was freed in 1997.
Travis County
Danziger and Ochoa were convicted of a 1988 rape and murder. DNA tests exonerated the pair in 2001.
Travis County
Michael Morton was convicted of the 1986 murder of his wife and spent 25 years in prison. Morton was exonerated in 2011.
Read more about this topic: Overturned Convictions In The United States
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