When convicts plead guilty yet are found to be innocent...

[Robert W]

When the Innocent Plead Guilty - Innocence Project

innocenceproject.org

The following is a very short list so use the link for the entire list.

I note too many posters say the prisoner pled guilty.

Such as those accused of crimes on Jan 6.

Enrique Tarrio for example got the worst sentence yet he was not there at all.

The 31 individuals listed below pled guilty to crimes they didn’t commit— usually seeking to avoid the potential for a long sentence (or a death sentence). They served a combined total of more than 150 years in prison before they were exonerated:


Phillip Bivens

and

Bobby Ray Dixon

pled guilty to a 1979 Mississippi rape and murder they didn’t commit. After the two men were threatened with the death penalty, they testified against a third innocent defendant,

Larry Ruffin

, and received life sentences. DNA testing obtained by Innocence Project New Orleans led to the three men’s exonerations in 2010. Sadly, Dixon and Ruffin died before their names were cleared.


Marcellius Bradford

served more than six years in Illinois prison for a murder he didn’t commit. He pled guilty and testified against his co-defendants in exchange for a 12-year sentence. Bradford later said he was threatened with a life sentence and coerced to pled guilty and testify. When DNA testing freed Bradford and his three co-defendants in 2001, it also implicated the two men who actually committed the crime.


Keith Brown

falsely confessed and pled guilty to a North Carolina rape in 1993. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison but was freed after DNA proved his innocence in 1997.


John Dixon

pled guilty to a rape he didn’t commit and spent 10 years in New Jersey prison before DNA testing proved his innocence. After pleading guilty, he asked the judge to withdraw his plea and hold a trial, but the motion was denied and he was sentenced to 45 years in prison.


Anthony Gray

falsely confessed to a Maryland rape after interrogating officers told him that two other men had implicated him. He would plead guilty and serve seven years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence.


Eugene Henton

served 18 months in Texas prison for a 1984 sexual assault he didn’t commit. He pled guilty in exchange for an 18-month sentence and was freed after serving his sentence. Once free, Henton continued to seek DNA testing in his case and finally obtained the tests that proved his innocence in 2006.


Dwayne Jackson

served nearly four years in Nevada prisons for a crime he didn’t commit. He pled guilty after DNA tests allegedly tied him to a robbery. In 2010, a database hit from another crime revealed that the sample had been switched at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Crime Lab, and the evidence from the crime scene actually excluded Jackson.


Kenneth Kagonyera

and

Robert Wilcoxson

spent ten years in North Carolina prisons for murder they did not commit. Kagonyera and Wilcoxson pled guilty in order to avoid life sentences. In 2011, newly tested DNA evidence proved their innocence.


William Kelly

pled guilty to third-degree murder for allegedly killing a 25-year-old woman in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He served two years in prison before DNA testing linked another man to the killing, as well as other murders, clearing Kelly. He was freed in 1993.


Michael Marshall

pled guilty in 2008 to stealing a truck in Georgia after he was identified by an eyewitness. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was freed in December 2009 after DNA testing obtained by the Georgia Innocence Project proved his innocence and pointed to the identity of the real perpetrator.


Christopher Ochoa

falsely confessed and pled guilty to murder in Texas that he didn’t commit. He testified against his co-defendant to avoid a possible death sentence, and served nearly 12 years in prison before DNA testing led to his exoneration – and also identified the real perpetrator in the case.


James Ochoa

pled guilty to a 2005 California carjacking he didn’t commit to avoid a possible sentence of 25 years to life if convicted at trial. Ten months after his conviction, DNA testing proved his innocence and implicated the real perpetrator of the crime.


Michael Phillips



was the only suspect in the rape of a 16-year-old white girl that occurred at the motel where he worked and lived. Philips, who is black, and was misidentified by the victim in a photo lineup, feared a jury would take her word over his and agreed to a plea bargain to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was exonerated when semen from the victim’s rape kit excluded him as the source in July of 2014.

 

[Michael1985]

Thank goodness for DNA testing.

 

[shockedcanadian]

When the Innocent Plead Guilty - Innocence Project

innocenceproject.org

The following is a very short list so use the link for the entire list.

I note too many posters say the prisoner pled guilty.

Such as those accused of crimes on Jan 6.

Enrique Tarrio for example got the worst sentence yet he was not there at all.

The 31 individuals listed below pled guilty to crimes they didn’t commit— usually seeking to avoid the potential for a long sentence (or a death sentence). They served a combined total of more than 150 years in prison before they were exonerated:

Phillip Bivens

and
Bobby Ray Dixon

pled guilty to a 1979 Mississippi rape and murder they didn’t commit. After the two men were threatened with the death penalty, they testified against a third innocent defendant,
Larry Ruffin

, and received life sentences. DNA testing obtained by Innocence Project New Orleans led to the three men’s exonerations in 2010. Sadly, Dixon and Ruffin died before their names were cleared.

Marcellius Bradford

served more than six years in Illinois prison for a murder he didn’t commit. He pled guilty and testified against his co-defendants in exchange for a 12-year sentence. Bradford later said he was threatened with a life sentence and coerced to pled guilty and testify. When DNA testing freed Bradford and his three co-defendants in 2001, it also implicated the two men who actually committed the crime.

Keith Brown

falsely confessed and pled guilty to a North Carolina rape in 1993. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison but was freed after DNA proved his innocence in 1997.

John Dixon

pled guilty to a rape he didn’t commit and spent 10 years in New Jersey prison before DNA testing proved his innocence. After pleading guilty, he asked the judge to withdraw his plea and hold a trial, but the motion was denied and he was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Anthony Gray

falsely confessed to a Maryland rape after interrogating officers told him that two other men had implicated him. He would plead guilty and serve seven years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence.

Eugene Henton

served 18 months in Texas prison for a 1984 sexual assault he didn’t commit. He pled guilty in exchange for an 18-month sentence and was freed after serving his sentence. Once free, Henton continued to seek DNA testing in his case and finally obtained the tests that proved his innocence in 2006.

Dwayne Jackson

served nearly four years in Nevada prisons for a crime he didn’t commit. He pled guilty after DNA tests allegedly tied him to a robbery. In 2010, a database hit from another crime revealed that the sample had been switched at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Crime Lab, and the evidence from the crime scene actually excluded Jackson.

Kenneth Kagonyera

and
Robert Wilcoxson

spent ten years in North Carolina prisons for murder they did not commit. Kagonyera and Wilcoxson pled guilty in order to avoid life sentences. In 2011, newly tested DNA evidence proved their innocence.

William Kelly

pled guilty to third-degree murder for allegedly killing a 25-year-old woman in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He served two years in prison before DNA testing linked another man to the killing, as well as other murders, clearing Kelly. He was freed in 1993.

Michael Marshall

pled guilty in 2008 to stealing a truck in Georgia after he was identified by an eyewitness. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was freed in December 2009 after DNA testing obtained by the Georgia Innocence Project proved his innocence and pointed to the identity of the real perpetrator.

Christopher Ochoa

falsely confessed and pled guilty to murder in Texas that he didn’t commit. He testified against his co-defendant to avoid a possible death sentence, and served nearly 12 years in prison before DNA testing led to his exoneration – and also identified the real perpetrator in the case.

James Ochoa

pled guilty to a 2005 California carjacking he didn’t commit to avoid a possible sentence of 25 years to life if convicted at trial. Ten months after his conviction, DNA testing proved his innocence and implicated the real perpetrator of the crime.

Michael Phillips



was the only suspect in the rape of a 16-year-old white girl that occurred at the motel where he worked and lived. Philips, who is black, and was misidentified by the victim in a photo lineup, feared a jury would take her word over his and agreed to a plea bargain to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was exonerated when semen from the victim’s rape kit excluded him as the source in July of 2014.

A major deficiency with the Justice system, certainly in Canada and I imagine in the U.S; is prosecutors who have to work through a case quickly and who focus on "winning". Then there is the unholy alliance between police and said prosecutors, a type of Groupthink in which the courts will bend for the police as they need them to make their case, innocence be damned!

This is why if I am innocent of a crime I will never plead guilty. If I am guilty I will accept the charges, you will only harm yourself spiritually if you lied to the courts and yourself. I can understand why people do plead guilty, some even falsely confess, that is an entirely unique and puzzling condition in itself; but for me I cannot betray both G-d and myself by pleading if I am innocent.

Nothing is sacred anymore because too few believe in G-d and too many believe they ARE G-d. Then there are those who knowingly harm an innocent man. They will most certainly pay the steepest of price when their time arrives I am sure. It's like so many aspects of our flawed species, the abusers only think of the short term, not unlike racking up their credit card and never expecting they will pay the interest.

As they age and anticipate that they will soon face judgement, they then realize the consequences of their deceit. "What have I done?"

Condemned your soul, that's what you have done...

 

[LuckyDuck]

People that are innocent of a crime, yet plead guilty, do so for the following reasons:
1. Interrogation rooms are deliberately kept uncomfortably cool so that the person being interrogated isn't comfortable and they reach a point whereby they are sick of hours of constant interrogating and just want it to end, so agree that they did the crime, to end it.
2. They feel a sense of loyalty towards the person (family member or loved one) that did commit the crime and want to protect them.
3. They are convinced by the interrogator that if they just confess to the crime, it will go easier on them and thus spend far less time incarcerated than if they don't confess.
4. Per my Criminal Justice classes, justice in this nation depends on whose courtroom you're in, how much money you have and how good your lawyer is.

 

[shockedcanadian]

People that are innocent of a crime, yet plead guilty, do so for the following reasons:
1. Interrogation rooms are deliberately kept uncomfortably cool so that the person being interrogated isn't comfortable and they reach a point whereby they are sick of hours of constant interrogating and just want it to end, so agree that they did the crime, to end it.
2. They feel a sense of loyalty towards the person (family member or loved one) that did commit the crime and want to protect them.
3. They are convinced by the interrogator that if they just confess to the crime, it will go easier on them and thus spend far less time incarcerated than if they don't confess.
4. Per my Criminal Justice classes, justice in this nation depends on whose courtroom you're in, how much money you have and how good your lawyer is.

Yes, I didn't address the money factor. This is clearly a major contributor to ones ability to fight a wrongful accusation or even confession etc.

Frightening really. We care less and less about the ideals that means so much. Vital to civilization really.

 

[Robert W]

A major deficiency with the Justice system, certainly in Canada and I imagine in the U.S; is prosecutors who have to work through a case quickly and who focus on "winning". Then there is the unholy alliance between police and said prosecutors, a type of Groupthink in which the courts will bend for the police as they need them to make their case, innocence be damned!

This is why if I am innocent of a crime I will never plead guilty. If I am guilty I will accept the charges, you will only harm yourself spiritually if you lied to the courts and yourself. I can understand why people do plead guilty, some even falsely confess, that is an entirely unique and puzzling condition in itself; but for me I cannot betray both G-d and myself by pleading if I am innocent.

Nothing is sacred anymore because too few believe in G-d and too many believe they ARE G-d. Then there are those who knowingly harm an innocent man. They will most certainly pay the steepest of price when their time arrives I am sure. It's like so many aspects of our flawed species, the abusers only think of the short term, not unlike racking up their credit card and never expecting they will pay the interest.

As they age and anticipate that they will soon face judgement, they then realize the consequences of their deceit. "What have I done?"

Condemned your soul, that's what you have done...

Well said. I posted this topic due to what I read about citizens who were not even at the Capitol building on Jan 6 yet have been found guilty. I know that threats were made to them to scare them to plead Guilty. The report of the very old grandma being put into prison sickens me. Why does this country jail the innocent? And let illegal aliens go who murdered others? It makes me sick I tell you.

 

[Robert W]

People that are innocent of a crime, yet plead guilty, do so for the following reasons:
1. Interrogation rooms are deliberately kept uncomfortably cool so that the person being interrogated isn't comfortable and they reach a point whereby they are sick of hours of constant interrogating and just want it to end, so agree that they did the crime, to end it.
2. They feel a sense of loyalty towards the person (family member or loved one) that did commit the crime and want to protect them.
3. They are convinced by the interrogator that if they just confess to the crime, it will go easier on them and thus spend far less time incarcerated than if they don't confess.
4. Per my Criminal Justice classes, justice in this nation depends on whose courtroom you're in, how much money you have and how good your lawyer is.

I too have studied law.
I recall telling a client of mine to see a particular attorney. They did as I recommended. It shocked the hell out of me that he stole money from them they deposited to cover expenses and he was put into prison.