Top 10 Stories of the Wrongly Accused
Top 10 Stories of the Wrongly Accused
Daniel Holden spent 19 years on Death Row for raping and killing his girlfriend in the Sundance Channel original series Rectify.
Though Daniel’s story is fiction, it parallels the many true cases of people who are finally freed after spending years -- sometimes decades -- in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. Unlike Daniel’s vacated conviction (meaning he could be tried again), these convicts were exonerated. But even the exonerated have to deal with questions, suspicions and a difficult reentry into society.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.
10. Darryl Hunt
In 1984, a onetime Klansman identified Darryl Hunt -- 19-years-old -- as journalist Deborah Sykes’ killer. In 1994, DNA evidence proved he had not committed the rape; but it was only in 2004, after another man confessed, that Hunt was released from prison. The unwavering belief in his innocence by friends and family are recounted in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival selection The Trials of Darryl Hunt.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.9. The Central Park Five
The brutal 1989 rape and beating of a young woman jogging in Central Park shook New York City to its core. Five teenagers -- Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Kharey Wise -- were convicted of the attack after several of them confessed (they later recanted and admitted that they had been unduly pressured into giving statements). The Central Park Five spent between 6 and 13 years in prison, until the confession of another man -- a serial rapist -- led to their exoneration. Celebrated documentarian Ken Burns’ The Central Park Five (2012) investigated this trial and its implications.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.8. Brian Banks
He’s only 27, but Brian Banks has spent 10 years of his life in prison and on probation. In 2002, he was convicted of raping and kidnapping a high school classmate; in 2012, the classmate recanted her accusation and Banks was exonerated. Once a college-football hopeful -- he had been offered a scholarship to Southern Cal at the age of 16 -- Banks thought that his dreams of playing in the NFL were over, but he’ll be suiting up and competing for a spot on the Atlanta Falcons roster this year. Banks, who now serves as a spokesman for the Innocence Project, is collaborating with Oscar-winning director-producer James Moll (The Last Days) on a documentary about his experience.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.7. The West Memphis Three
It was a case that made headlines across the country: the 1994 murders and mutilations of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. In 1994, three teens -- Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley and Damien Echols -- were convicted of the murders. For years, a group of celebrities and musicians worked to clear the names of the West Memphis Three, whose case revolved around questionable testimony and evidence from the start. The Emmy-winning 1996 documentary Paradise Lost focuses on the community’s hysteria about the supposed “Satanism” they practiced. In 2011, after new DNA evidence was presented, the WM3 were released from prison after each serving 18 years. The 2012 Sundance Film Festival selection West of Memphis, produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, focused on mounting evidence against one of the murdered boys’ stepfathers, Terry Hobbs.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.6. Michael Morton
In 1989, Michael Morton was convicted of killing his wife, Christine, the morning after his birthday; prosecutors claimed that he bludgeoned her to death for refusing to have sex with him. Despite testimony from his then 3-year-old son, who had witnessed the murder, that someone else was the perpetrator, Morton was sent to prison, where he spent the next 25 years. He appealed his case numerous times; finally, with the help of the Innocence Project, DNA tests were run that definitively proved he was not the killer. Morton was finally released and exonerated in 2011. The Al Reinert-directed documentary about his case, An Unreal Dream, premiered at SXSW in March.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.5. Dennis Maher, Calvin Willis, Scott Hornoff, Wilton Dedge, Vincent Moto, Nick Yarris, Ronald Cotton and Herman Atkins
The subjects of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize winner After Innocence, were all imprisoned for murders or rapes they did not commit, and all served years of their terms -- some of them two-plus decades -- before being eventually exonerated by DNA evidence. What makes their cases interesting is what happened after they were released: Jessica Sanders’ film focuses on the difficult reentry into “normal” life, the efforts to find gainful employment, and questions of what we as a society owe the wrongly convicted when the legal system has failed them.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.4. Randall Dale Adams
After Randall Dale Adams was convicted for the 1976 murder of a Dallas police officer, he served 12-plus years of a death sentence in prison, until evidence of misconduct by the prosecution and a key witness were uncovered. Adams’ case was chronicled in the celebrated 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line, by Errol Morris. After his release, Adams sued Morris over the rights to his life story; the parties settled out of court.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.3. Michael Peterson
In 2003, author Michael Peterson (The Immortal Dragon) was convicted of killing his second wife, Kathleen, whom he claims died after an accidental fall down their home’s staircase. One of the key witnesses in the original case, a blood analyst named Duane Deaver, has since been fired from his job due to inconsistencies in his work. In 2011, thanks in part to questions regarding Deaver’s trustworthiness, Peterson was released from prison. The case is far from over for Peterson, whose story is chronicled in the riveting docudrama < a href="http://www.sundancechannel.com/series/the-staircase">The Staircase; he is due to return to court for a new trial.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.2. Clarence Lee Brandley
As a janitor at a Texas high school in 1981, Brandley was accused and convicted of the rape and murder of a white student, 16-year-old Cheryl Dee Ferguson. As evidence piled up to exonerate Brandley, he was finally released in 1990. It was hardly smooth sailing from there; he had his freedom but was ordered to make child-support back payments to his ex-wife -- for the time he had spent in prison, when he was earning no money.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.1. Kenny Waters
In 2001, after spending 18 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, Kenny Waters was finally released, thanks to the tireless efforts of his sister, Betty Anne Waters, who became a lawyer to help free him. Kenny’s story -- and Betty Anne’s devotion to his cause -- was dramatized in the Hilary Swank-Sam Rockwell movie Conviction. What wasn’t depicted in the movie is that shortly after being freed, Kenny tripped, took a bad spill and died from head trauma. He was 47 years old and had been free for just six months.
Be sure to watch Rectify on Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 9pm.
