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Exoneree biographies
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CHRISTOPHER
OCHOA —
In 1988, police investigators
threatened Christopher
Ochoa with the death
penalty, and he falsely
confessed to a rape
and murder he did
not commit. Ochoa
and his co-worker,
Richard Danziger,
were sentenced to
life in prison; they
both served twelve
years in the Texas
Department of Criminal
Justice. When Ochoa
was freed in 2001,
he became a law student
at the University
of Wisconsin, the
same law school that
worked to bring about
his exoneration. |
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JUAN
MELENDEZ
— Juan Melendez
moved from Puerto
Rico to Delaware at
seventeen, and soon
found himself struggling
to make money and
began to hustle on
the streets. In 1984,
based on the unreliable
testimony of an informant,
Melendez was convicted
of the murder and
armed robbery of a
man he’d never
met. He was extradited
to Florida, sentenced
to death, and served
seventeen years before
previously concealed
evidence exonerated
him. He now heads
“Juan Melendez
Voices United for
Justice,” an
advocacy group, and
is an avid anti-death
penalty activist and
speaker. |
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GARY
GAUGER
— Gary Gauger’s
parents were murdered
on their Richmond,
Illinois farm in 1993.
Police immediately
blamed Gauger. During
a grueling interrogation,
detectives temporarily
convinced Gauger that
he had actually committed
the crime. He was
found guilty and sentenced
to death—and
released three years
later. A popular speaker
on wrongful convictions,
he lives on that same
Illinois farm, still
contending with the
psychological effects
of his incarceration. |
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JAMES
NEWSOME
— James Newsome
was living on the
South Side of Chicago
when a white grocer
was shot to death
in a local convenience
store. Officers from
the Area 2 police
station, known for
corruption and abuse,
made Newsome their
prime suspect. Eyewitnesses
misidentified him
in a police lineup,
and an all-white jury
sentenced him to life
in prison. He served
fifteen years before
fingerprints from
the crime scene were
matched to an already-incarcerated
criminal. After his
release, Newsome won
a multi-million-dollar
lawsuit against the
City of Chicago. He
now owns a shoe store
there called Heelz. |
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CALVIN
WILLIS
— Based on the
eyewitness identification
of a nine-year-old
rape victim, Calvin
Willis was convicted
of rape, and sentenced
to life in prison.
After one of his lawyers
had a heart attack
and another was struck
dead by lightning,
Willis relied on the
help and dedication
of a paralegal to
raise enough money
to have his DNA tested,
in 2003. After twenty-two
years in Louisiana’s
infamous Angola Prison,
Willis has started
again in Shreveport.
He is awaiting compensation. |
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JOHN
STOLL —
In the mid-1980s,
a series of child-abuse
“witch hunts”
swept California.
A flurry of prosecutions
and convictions ensued,
and John Stoll took
the hardest fall.
He was charged with
molesting his own
son and several other
boys, and was sentenced
to forty years in
prison. He served
nineteen; in 2004,
the boys recanted
their testimony. For
Stoll, who now lives
in Oklahoma, his release
didn't repair the
damage—he no
longer speaks with
his son, who continues
to believe he was
molested. |
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BEVERLY
MONROE
— In the early
1990s, Virginian Beverly
Monroe was convicted
of the murder of her
longtime companion,
who had in fact killed
himself. Her twenty-two
year sentence was
relatively light,
but the case against
her was tenuous at
best. A police investigator
persuaded her to sign
a hypothetical statement,
later construed as
a confession, and
then convinced a convicted
felon, whom Monroe
had never met, to
testify against her
at trial. After a
lengthy and complicated
appellate process,
Monroe was freed in
2002. She lives in
Williamsburg, Virginia. |
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MICHAEL
EVANS & PAUL TERRY
— Michael Evans
and Paul Terry were
seventeen-year-old
boys when they were
convicted for a rape
and murder they knew
nothing about. As
a result of the testimony
of a neighborhood
woman seeking to claim
reward money, the
two were sentenced
to 200- to 400-year
sentences. Evans maintained
his optimism during
his time in the most
notorious Illinois
prisons, but Terry
struggled to preserve
his sanity. After
twenty-seven years,
they were exonerated
by DNA evidence. Now
living in Chicago,
they are grown men
vastly changed by
their ordeals. |
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DAVID
POPE —
David Pope spent fifteen
years in the Texas
prison system for
a rape he didn’t
commit. He was convicted
with now-discredited
“voice spectrograph”
technology that compared
his voice to recorded
conversations with
the actual rapist.
When DNA from his
case proved his innocence
in the late 1990s,
Pope stayed in prison
for years, unaware
that he’d been
cleared. He was finally
released in 2001,
after Texas Governor
Rick Perry signed
his pardon. He now
lives in Bolinas,
California, and is
looking for work. |
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JOSEPH
AMRINE
— In 1985, Joseph
Amrine was accused
and convicted of stabbing
a fellow inmate at
a prison in Jefferson
City, Missouri. When
it came time for his
sentencing, he campaigned
for the death penalty,
hoping it would draw
attention and legal
assistance to his
case. It did. In 2003,
Amrine was released
after witnesses, including
jailhouse informants
and guards, recanted
their testimony. He
now lives in Kansas
City and works with
the Public Interest
Litigation Clinic
legal group as a speaker
and outreach coordinator. |
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PETER
ROSE —
On a late fall morning
in 1994, a teenage
girl was raped in
Lodi, California.
The girl’s aunt
implicated Peter Rose,
repeatedly suggesting
to her niece that
he was the assailant.
Rose was convicted
of rape and kidnapping
and was sentenced
to twenty-seven years,
leaving his own children
without his support.
He served ten years
in California prisons
before being cleared
by DNA evidence. Rose
now lives in Point
Arena, California,
and works in construction.
He is awaiting compensation
from the state. |
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KEVIN
GREEN —
As a Marine, Kevin
Green admits that
he was “young,
dumb, and full of
it.” He had
a rocky relationship
with his first wife,
Diane, and when she
was brutally assaulted
by a serial rapist
known as the “Bedroom
Basher,” Green
was accused of the
crime. He was convicted
based on his wife’s
testimony, and served
sixteen years in California
prisons before DNA
evidence exonerated
him. He now lives
in Jefferson City,
Missouri. |
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