Has anyone been sentenced to death, sentence carried out, then found to be innocent?

baldricksmum

Timothy Evans was pardoned many years after being hanged http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Evans Jul 23 07, 5:48 PM

temujin2020

The wikipedia entry cites the cases of Jesse Tafero and Wayne Felker in the U.S. and Timothy Evans, George Kelly, Derek Bentley, and Mahmood Hussein Mattan in the U.K. Doubtless there have been many more both in the U.S. and the other countries that still practice capital pubishment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_execution Jul 23 07, 6:26 PM

lanfranco

If there's one subject about which we have reliable statistics in the U.S., it's executions (not lynchings, but official, judicially-sanctioned murders, carried out in state prisons). Recent exonerations on the basis of DNA evidence have received enormous, national publicity, though relatively few of those have involved people sentenced to death. It's worth noting that 12 U.S. states do not have the death penalty. Others have it but have not executed anyone in many years. In 2005, the state of Connecticut carried out its first execution since 1960, and there was much soul-searching throughout the state. Had the condemned man, a serial rapist/killer, not insisted on dropping his appeals, he would almost certainly be alive today. By the way, for anyone who's interested, the UK abolished hanging, its preferred form of execution, in 1965: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom Jul 23 07, 6:52 PM

zbeckabee

In summary -- YES, there are cases where a death sentence was carried out in the face of innocence... and it will probably happen again. Is it possible for an innocent man (even in the U.S.) to be wrongly accused, convicted, sentenced and executed? Absolutely. Does it happen often? Probably not. Would it be made a matter of public record. Debatable. Do I have a link to support my answer? Sure! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_condition Jul 23 07, 8:18 PM