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Not guilty by virtue of DNA
Compiled from staff and wire reports
Published January 14, 2006
Four convicted inmates have been cleared through DNA evidence in Florida in the past few years:
FRANK LEE SMITH
The first American to be exonerated after dying on death row. He died of pancreatic cancer. Conviction: murder, sex assault. Sentence: death. Year of conviction: 1986. Year of exoneration: 2000. Sentence served: died in prison. Compensation? Not yet.
JERRY FRANK TOWNSEND
Townsend, mentally retarded, confessed to murder but DNA evidence exonerated him. Conviction: several murders, sex assault. Sentences: various. Year of exoneration: 2001. Sentence served: 22 years. Compensation? Not yet.
WILTON DEDGE
He had been convicted twice for the same rape. Conviction: sexual battery, aggravated battery, burglary. Sentence: life. Year of conviction: 1982, 1984 (retrial). Year of exoneration: 2004. Sentence served: 22 years. Compensation: $2-million.
LUIS DIAZ
Imprisoned as the "Bird Road rapist" who terrorized Coral Gables in the late 1970s. Conviction: kidnapping, sexual battery, aggravated assault. Sentence: life plus. Year of conviction: 1980. Year of exoneration: 2005. Sentence served: 26 years. Compensation? Not yet.
Sources: Florida Innocence Initiative,
Miami Herald.
[Last modified January 14, 2006, 01:39:15]
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by Gilbert
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01/23/08 03:09 AM
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I am about the toughest person on criminal behavior bar none! But when innocent people are incarcerated we have got to listen up! One innocent person incarecerated is 1 TOO many!
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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