Wrongful execution
Encyclopedia
Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice
occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment
, the "death penalty." Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by the opponents of capital punishment.
A number of people are claimed to have been innocent victims of the death penalty.
Newly-available DNA evidence has allowed the exoneration
and release of more than 15 death row
inmates since 1992 in the United States, but DNA evidence is available in only a fraction of capital cases. Others have been released owing to weak cases against them, sometimes involving prosecutorial misconduct, resulting in acquittal at retrial, charges dropped, or innocence-based pardons. The Death Penalty Information Center
(U.S.) has published a list of 8 inmates "executed but possibly innocent".
At least 39 executions are claimed to have been carried out in the U.S. in the face of evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt.
In the U.K., reviews prompted by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
have resulted in one pardon and three exonerations for people executed between 1950 and 1953 (when the execution rate in England and Wales
averaged 17 per year), with compensation being paid.
in Florida
. Tafero was convicted along with an accomplice, Sonia Jacobs, of murdering two police officers in 1976 while the two were fleeing drug charges; each was sentenced to death based partially on the testimony of a third person, Walter Rhodes, a prison acquaintance of Tafero's who was an accessory to the crime and who testified against the pair in exchange for a lighter sentence. Jacobs's death sentence was commuted in 1981. In 1982, Rhodes recanted his testimony and claimed full responsibility for the crime. Despite Rhodes's admission, Tafero was executed in 1990. In 1992 the conviction against Jacobs was quashed and the state subsequently did not have enough evidence to retry her. She then entered an Alford plea
and was sentenced to time served. It has been presumed that, as the same evidence was used against Tafero as against Jacobs, Tafero would have been released as well had he still been alive.
Johnny Frank Garrett
of Texas was executed for allegedly raping and murdering a nun. Evidence and testimony originally suggested a Cuban individual before Frank became the main suspect. The flawed case is explored in a 2008 Documentary "The Last Word".
Wayne Felker, a convicted rapist, is also claimed by some observers to have been an innocent victim of execution. Felker was a suspect in the disappearance of a Georgia
(US) woman in 1981 and was under police surveillance for two weeks prior to the woman's body being found. The autopsy was conducted by an unqualified technician, and the results were changed to show the death occurring before the surveillance had begun. After Felker's conviction, his lawyers presented testimony by forensics experts that the body could not have been dead more than three days when found; a stack of evidence was found hidden by the prosecution that hadn't been presented in court, including DNA evidence that might have exonerated Felker or cast doubt on his guilt. There was also a signed confession by another suspect in the paperwork, but despite all this, Felker was executed in 1996. In 2000, his case was reopened in an attempt to make him the first executed person in the US to have DNA testing used to prove his innocence after his execution.
Thomas and Meeks Griffin
were executed in 1915 for the murder of a man involved in an interracial affair two years before but were pardoned 94 years after execution. It is thought that they were arrested and charged because they were not wealthy enough to hire competent legal counsel and get an acquittal.
Timothy Evans
in the United Kingdom
, was tried and executed in 1950 for the murder of his baby daughter Geraldine. An official inquiry conducted 16 years later determined that it was Evans's fellow tenant, serial killer John Reginald Halliday Christie
, who was responsible for the murder. Christie also admitted to the murder of Evans's wife as well as five other women and his own wife. Christie may have murdered other women, judging by evidence found in his possession at the time of his arrest, but it was never pursued by the police. Evans was pardoned posthumously following this, in 1966. The case prompted the abolition of capital punishment
in the UK in 1965.
Derek Bentley
was a mentally challenged young man who was executed in 1953, also in the United Kingdom
. He was convicted of the murder of a police officer during an attempted robbery despite the fact that it was his accomplice who fired the gun, and Bentley was under arrest at the time of the shooting. The accomplice who actually fired the fatal shot could not be executed owing to his young age.
Chipita Rodriguez
was hanged in San Patricio County, Texas in 1863 for murdering a horse trader, and 122 years later, the Texas Legislature
passed a resolution
exonerating her.
was the first American to be freed from death row as a result of exoneration by DNA fingerprinting. Ray Krone
is the 100th American to have been sentenced to death and then later exonerated.
Advocates of the death penalty argue that it deters crime, is a good tool for police and prosecutors (especially in the case of plea bargaining), improves the community by making sure that convicted criminals do not offend again, provides closure to surviving victims or loved ones, and is a just penalty for their crime. Opponents of capital punishment argue that it has led to the execution of wrongfully convicted, that it discriminates against minorities and the poor, that it does not deter criminals more than life imprisonment, that it encourages a "culture of violence", that it is more expensive than life imprisonment, and that it violates human rights.
In the U.K., reviews prompted by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
have resulted in one pardon and three exonerations for people that were executed between 1950 and 1953 (when the execution rate in England and Wales
averaged 17 per year), with compensation being paid. Timothy Evans
was granted a posthumous free pardon in 1966. Mahmood Hussein Mattan
was convicted in 1952 and was the last person to be hanged in Cardiff
, Wales, but had his conviction quashed in 1998. George Kelly
was hanged at Liverpool
in 1950, but had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in June 2003. Derek Bentley
had his conviction quashed in 1998 with the appeal trial judge, Lord Bingham
, noting that the original trial judge, Lord Goddard
, had denied the defendant "the fair trial which is the birthright of every British citizen."
Colin Campbell Ross
(1892 — 1922) was an Australia
n wine-bar owner executed
for the rape and murder of a child which became known as The Gun Alley Murder
, despite there being evidence that he was innocent. Following his execution, efforts were made to clear his name, and in the 1990s old evidence was re-examined with modern forensic techniques which supported the view that Ross was innocent. In 2006 an appeal for mercy was made to Victoria's Chief Justice and on 27 May 2008, the Victorian government pardoned Ross in what is believed to be an Australian legal first.
Miscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, the "death penalty." Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by the opponents of capital punishment.
A number of people are claimed to have been innocent victims of the death penalty.
Newly-available DNA evidence has allowed the exoneration
Exoneration
Exoneration occurs when a person who has been convicted of a crime is later proved to have been innocent of that crime. Attempts to exonerate convicts are particularly controversial in death penalty cases, especially where new evidence is put forth after the execution has taken place.The term...
and release of more than 15 death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
inmates since 1992 in the United States, but DNA evidence is available in only a fraction of capital cases. Others have been released owing to weak cases against them, sometimes involving prosecutorial misconduct, resulting in acquittal at retrial, charges dropped, or innocence-based pardons. The Death Penalty Information Center
Death Penalty Information Center
The Death Penalty Information Center is a non-profit organization that focuses on disseminating studies and reports related to the death penalty by itself and others to the news media and general public...
(U.S.) has published a list of 8 inmates "executed but possibly innocent".
At least 39 executions are claimed to have been carried out in the U.S. in the face of evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt.
In the U.K., reviews prompted by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is an non-departmental public body set up following the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice itself a continuation of the May Inquiry. It aims to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
have resulted in one pardon and three exonerations for people executed between 1950 and 1953 (when the execution rate in England and Wales
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
averaged 17 per year), with compensation being paid.
Specific examples
Of the American cases, one often quoted is the execution of Jesse TaferoJesse Tafero
Jesse Joseph Tafero , was convicted of murder and executed via electric chair in the state of Florida for the murders of Florida Highway Patrol officer Phillip Black and Donald Irwin, a visiting Canadian constable and friend of Black...
in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Tafero was convicted along with an accomplice, Sonia Jacobs, of murdering two police officers in 1976 while the two were fleeing drug charges; each was sentenced to death based partially on the testimony of a third person, Walter Rhodes, a prison acquaintance of Tafero's who was an accessory to the crime and who testified against the pair in exchange for a lighter sentence. Jacobs's death sentence was commuted in 1981. In 1982, Rhodes recanted his testimony and claimed full responsibility for the crime. Despite Rhodes's admission, Tafero was executed in 1990. In 1992 the conviction against Jacobs was quashed and the state subsequently did not have enough evidence to retry her. She then entered an Alford plea
Alford plea
An Alford plea in United States law is a guilty plea in criminal court, where the defendant does not admit the act and asserts innocence...
and was sentenced to time served. It has been presumed that, as the same evidence was used against Tafero as against Jacobs, Tafero would have been released as well had he still been alive.
Johnny Frank Garrett
Johnny Garrett
Johnny Frank Garrett was a Texas inmate executed for the rape and murder of a 76-year-old nun, Sister Tadea Benz, on October 31, 1981....
of Texas was executed for allegedly raping and murdering a nun. Evidence and testimony originally suggested a Cuban individual before Frank became the main suspect. The flawed case is explored in a 2008 Documentary "The Last Word".
Wayne Felker, a convicted rapist, is also claimed by some observers to have been an innocent victim of execution. Felker was a suspect in the disappearance of a Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
(US) woman in 1981 and was under police surveillance for two weeks prior to the woman's body being found. The autopsy was conducted by an unqualified technician, and the results were changed to show the death occurring before the surveillance had begun. After Felker's conviction, his lawyers presented testimony by forensics experts that the body could not have been dead more than three days when found; a stack of evidence was found hidden by the prosecution that hadn't been presented in court, including DNA evidence that might have exonerated Felker or cast doubt on his guilt. There was also a signed confession by another suspect in the paperwork, but despite all this, Felker was executed in 1996. In 2000, his case was reopened in an attempt to make him the first executed person in the US to have DNA testing used to prove his innocence after his execution.
Thomas and Meeks Griffin
Thomas Griffin (black farmer)
Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin were brothers and prominent black farmers who lived in Chester County, South Carolina. They were executed via the electric chair in 1915 for the murder in 1913 of 75-year-old John Q...
were executed in 1915 for the murder of a man involved in an interracial affair two years before but were pardoned 94 years after execution. It is thought that they were arrested and charged because they were not wealthy enough to hire competent legal counsel and get an acquittal.
Timothy Evans
Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and daughter at their residence in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, was tried and executed in 1950 for the murder of his baby daughter Geraldine. An official inquiry conducted 16 years later determined that it was Evans's fellow tenant, serial killer John Reginald Halliday Christie
John Christie (murderer)
John Reginald Halliday Christie , born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was a notorious English serial killer active in the 1940s and '50s. He murdered at least eight females – including his wife Ethel – by strangling them in his flat at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London...
, who was responsible for the murder. Christie also admitted to the murder of Evans's wife as well as five other women and his own wife. Christie may have murdered other women, judging by evidence found in his possession at the time of his arrest, but it was never pursued by the police. Evans was pardoned posthumously following this, in 1966. The case prompted the abolition of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
in the UK in 1965.
Derek Bentley
Derek Bentley
Derek William Bentley was a British teenager hanged for the murder of a police officer, committed in the course of a burglary attempt. The murder of the police officer was committed by a friend and accomplice of Bentley's, Christopher Craig, then aged 16. Bentley was convicted as a party to the...
was a mentally challenged young man who was executed in 1953, also in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He was convicted of the murder of a police officer during an attempted robbery despite the fact that it was his accomplice who fired the gun, and Bentley was under arrest at the time of the shooting. The accomplice who actually fired the fatal shot could not be executed owing to his young age.
Chipita Rodriguez
Chipita Rodriguez
Josefa "Chipita" Rodriguez was convicted of murder and hanged in San Patricio County, Texas at the age of 63. A century later, on June 13, 1985, the Texas Legislature passed a resolution noting that Rodriguez did not receive a fair trial...
was hanged in San Patricio County, Texas in 1863 for murdering a horse trader, and 122 years later, the Texas Legislature
Texas Legislature
The Legislature of the state of Texas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The Legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin...
passed a resolution
Resolution (law)
A resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion. For long or important motions, though, it is often better to have them written out so that discussion is easier or so that it can be...
exonerating her.
Exonerations and pardons
Kirk BloodsworthKirk Bloodsworth
Kirk Noble Bloodsworth is the first American sentenced to death row who was exonerated by DNA fingerprinting, although his death sentence had already been commuted to two consecutive life sentences by the time his exoneration based upon DNA evidence was in the works.An honorably discharged former...
was the first American to be freed from death row as a result of exoneration by DNA fingerprinting. Ray Krone
Ray Krone
Ray Krone is an American who was wrongfully convicted of murder. Krone holds the distinction of being the 98th inmate exonerated from death row since the death sentence was reinstated in 1976....
is the 100th American to have been sentenced to death and then later exonerated.
Advocates of the death penalty argue that it deters crime, is a good tool for police and prosecutors (especially in the case of plea bargaining), improves the community by making sure that convicted criminals do not offend again, provides closure to surviving victims or loved ones, and is a just penalty for their crime. Opponents of capital punishment argue that it has led to the execution of wrongfully convicted, that it discriminates against minorities and the poor, that it does not deter criminals more than life imprisonment, that it encourages a "culture of violence", that it is more expensive than life imprisonment, and that it violates human rights.
In the U.K., reviews prompted by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is an non-departmental public body set up following the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice itself a continuation of the May Inquiry. It aims to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
have resulted in one pardon and three exonerations for people that were executed between 1950 and 1953 (when the execution rate in England and Wales
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
averaged 17 per year), with compensation being paid. Timothy Evans
Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans was a Welshman accused of murdering his wife and daughter at their residence in Notting Hill, London in November 1949. In January 1950 Evans was tried and convicted of the murder of his daughter, and he was sentenced to death by hanging...
was granted a posthumous free pardon in 1966. Mahmood Hussein Mattan
Mahmood Hussein Mattan
Mahmood Hussein Mattan was a Somali former merchant seaman who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Lily Volpert on 6 March 1952. The murder took place in the Docklands area of Cardiff, Wales and Mattan was mainly convicted on the evidence of a single prosecution witness...
was convicted in 1952 and was the last person to be hanged in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales, but had his conviction quashed in 1998. George Kelly
George Kelly
-Writers, artists and performers:*George Kelly , American dramatist*George Kelly , American jazz tenor saxophonist, vocalist, arranger and bandleader...
was hanged at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 1950, but had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in June 2003. Derek Bentley
Derek Bentley
Derek William Bentley was a British teenager hanged for the murder of a police officer, committed in the course of a burglary attempt. The murder of the police officer was committed by a friend and accomplice of Bentley's, Christopher Craig, then aged 16. Bentley was convicted as a party to the...
had his conviction quashed in 1998 with the appeal trial judge, Lord Bingham
Thomas Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill
Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, KG PC QC FBA , was a British judge and jurist. He served in the highest judicial offices of the United Kingdom as Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and as Senior Law Lord before his retirement, when he focused his work as a teacher and lecturer...
, noting that the original trial judge, Lord Goddard
Rayner Goddard, Baron Goddard
Rayner Goddard, Baron Goddard was Lord Chief Justice of England from 1946 to 1958 and known for his strict sentencing and conservative views. He was nicknamed the 'Tiger' and "Justice-in-a-jiffy" for his no-nonsense manner...
, had denied the defendant "the fair trial which is the birthright of every British citizen."
Colin Campbell Ross
Colin Campbell Ross
Colin Campbell Eadie Ross was an Australian wine-bar owner executed for the rape and murder of a child which became known as The Gun Alley Murder, despite there being evidence that he was innocent...
(1892 — 1922) was an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n wine-bar owner executed
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for the rape and murder of a child which became known as The Gun Alley Murder
The Gun Alley Murder
The Gun Alley Murder was the rape and murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke in Melbourne, in 1921. She was a schoolgirl and had last been seen alive close to a drinking establishment, the Australian Wine Saloon; under these circumstances her murder caused a sensation...
, despite there being evidence that he was innocent. Following his execution, efforts were made to clear his name, and in the 1990s old evidence was re-examined with modern forensic techniques which supported the view that Ross was innocent. In 2006 an appeal for mercy was made to Victoria's Chief Justice and on 27 May 2008, the Victorian government pardoned Ross in what is believed to be an Australian legal first.
See also
- Cold case
- Execution of innocent people
- Miscarriage of justiceMiscarriage of justiceA miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
- Charles Hudspeth (convict)Charles Hudspeth (convict)Charles Hudspeth was an American man convicted of murder in Marion County, Arkansas in 1887. On December 30, 1892 he was hanged, although his alleged victim was later found to be alive....
- List of exonerated death row inmates