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Old 12-16-2004, 01:51 PM
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I find it difficult to believe that millions of people pouring over tons of cases couldn't come up with one single person who was sentenced incorrectly.
[1] Roy Stewart (Florida): Stewart's conviction of the murder of a woman in 1979 rested almost solely on the testimony of a witness who testified that he had confessed the killing. Several years after the trial witness recanted stating that she gave her story for the sole purpose of avoiding a jail sentence herself for forgery and possession of marijuana. She was released from jail following her testimony at Stewart's trial and was paid a cash reward for her false story. Three state's Attorneys who prosecuted Stewart later came forward opposing the execution for lack of evidence. One of the state's Attorneys said, "The state completely botched the investigation of the scene. They threw away critical evidence. I came to learn... that they also had not pursued other defendants who had much more legitimate contact with the decedent than Mr. Stewart." However, even over the objections of the prosecuting attorneys, Roy Stewart was executed on April 22, 1994.

[2] Jesse Tafero (Florida) Tafero was sentenced to death along with Sonia Jacobs for the murder of two policemen at a highway rest stop in 1976. A third co-defendant received a life sentence after pleading guilty and testifying against Jacobs and Tafero. A childhood friend and filmmaker, Micki Dickoff, then became interested in Jacobs case. Jacobs's conviction was overturned on a federal writ of habeas corpus in 1992. Following the discovery that the chief prosecution witness had failed a lie-detector test, the prosecutor accepted a plea in which Jacobs did not admit guilt, and she was immediately released. Jesse Tafero, whose conviction was based on much of the same highly questionable evidence, had been executed in 1990, two years before the evidence of innocence had been uncovered.


Here are more cases like that if you are interested
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