Death Row Exonerations in the United States

What counts as a death-row exoneration

First 20 canonical profiles in this cluster

– Jermaine Marlow Wright — Delaware, convicted 1992, exonerated 2026 (Charges expunged). – Kerry Max Cook — Texas, convicted 1978, exonerated 2024 (Appellate acquittal / actual-innocence ruling). – Daniel Gwynn — Pennsylvania, convicted 1995, exonerated 2024 (Charges dismissed). – Glynn Ray Simmons — Oklahoma, convicted 1975, exonerated 2023 (Charges dismissed). – Jesse Lee Johnson — Oregon, convicted 2004, exonerated 2023 (Charges dismissed). – Alfred Dewayne Brown — Texas, convicted 2005, exonerated 2015 (Charges dismissed; later actual-innocence finding). – Debra Milke — Arizona, convicted 1990, exonerated 2015 (Charges dismissed). – Anthony Ray Hinton — Alabama, convicted 1985, exonerated 2015 (Charges dismissed). – Glenn Ford — Louisiana, convicted 1984, exonerated 2014 (Charges dismissed). – Anthony Graves — Texas, convicted 1994, exonerated 2010 (Charges dismissed). – Curtis Edward McCarty — Oklahoma, convicted 1986, exonerated 2007 (Charges dismissed). – Gary Drinkard — Alabama, convicted 1995, exonerated 2001 (Charges dismissed). – Ronald Keith Williamson — Oklahoma, convicted 1988, exonerated 1999 (Charges dismissed). – Nathson Fields — Illinois, convicted 1986, exonerated 2009 (Acquitted). – Earl Washington Jr. — Virginia, convicted 1984, exonerated 2000 (Absolute pardon). – Sabrina Butler-Smith — Mississippi, convicted 1990, exonerated 1995 (Acquitted). – Shareef Cousin — Louisiana, convicted 1996, exonerated 1999 (Charges dismissed). – Rolando Cruz — Illinois, convicted 1985, exonerated 1995 (Acquitted). – Curtis Kyles — Louisiana, convicted 1984, exonerated 1998 (Charges dismissed). – Kennedy Brewer — Mississippi, convicted 1995, exonerated 2008 (Charges dismissed).

Recurring failure modes

The first expansion layer tracks six recurring themes: official misconduct; false confessions; mistaken eyewitness identification; false or misleading forensic evidence; perjury or false accusation; and inadequate legal defense. These categories can overlap in the same case.

How this fits the death-penalty graph

Each public exoneree profile is intentionally excluded from the Rogue People catalog because exoneration means the site should not present the person as a criminal profile. The pages remain public canonical entities so they can connect to state death-penalty histories, court decisions, forensic controversies and future books or screen adaptations.

Update policy

The source database changes as courts issue new innocence rulings and as older cases are re-evaluated. The hub count is therefore timestamped and should be re-audited rather than treated as a permanent number.

Sources

– Death Penalty Information Center — Innocence Database. – Death Penalty Information Center — Innocence overview and case descriptions.