25 most unfair sentences in the history of American justice (26 photos)

The worst thing about the judicial system is when someone gets into jail for a crime he didn't commit. Since 1989, the US has had more than 3,100 people were acquitted. Innocently convicted and serving years for lattice. People on our top 25 list lost a total of 624 years of his life, falling under the rink of justice, which turned out to be really blind - but in a very bad way.





1. Jonathan Barr (served 14 years)



Jonathan Barr and four co-defendants were wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and murder of a 14-year-old girl in 1991 year. Despite the fact that even before the trial, DNA tests proved that none of the five were not involved, they were all put behind bars. Only in 2011, after spending a total of 95 years in prison, they were all declared innocent - after the DNA was passed through the National combined FBI DNA Index System (CODIS) and found the real culprit. It turned out to be 33-year-old Willie Randolph, previously convicted for armed robbery. At the time of the murder, he lived with the victim in the same area.

2. Christine Bunch (served 17 years)



In 1995, Christine Bunch was imprisoned for more than 17 years. To her was charged with arson, which resulted in the death of her Anthony's three year old son. But Christine's family did not give up. In 2006 her relatives hired a new lawyer and invited three forensic experts, who concluded that the prosecution's testimony about the arson during the trial were wrong. A new trial was opened because it turned out that in 1995, at the trial, the prosecution hid some important documents. Recent discoveries in fire science provided further evidence of Christine's innocence. However the judge did not change the decision and the woman remained in custody until 2012, when she was released on bail. Final accusations against Kristin were dismissed eight days before Christmas in 2012.

3. Kenny Adams (served 18 years)



Kenneth Adams and three other men now known as the Ford Heights Four, were wrongfully convicted of rape and double murder in 1978. Adams was sentenced to 75 years in prison. After 18 years, new DNA tests proved the innocence of all four convicted in this case, and all charges were dropped from them. "Four Ford Heights filed civil rights lawsuits against the department Cook County Sheriff. During the process, it became clear that the false witness the testimony given against them was obtained under duress. Cook County agreed to settle the men's claims for $36 million, which that moment was the highest amount in US judicial history.

4. Stephen Avery (served 18 years)



In 1985, 23-year-old Stephen Avery was sentenced to 32 years. for the rape and attempted murder of a woman who was attacked during while jogging along the shores of Lake Michigan. Avery had an alibi for the moment. attacks - he was 40 miles from the lake, and several witnesses who could confirm it. Did not help. In 2003 he was acquitted after DNA testing identified the real offender. The assailant was Gregory Allen, a convicted felon, very similar to Avery.

Amazingly, less than five years after being released Avery has been charged with another murder and is currently he is serving a life sentence in prison with no chance of grant of parole.

5. Leroy Orange (served 19 years)



Leroy Orange was found guilty on the basis of a confession, which he gave after being tortured at a police station in Chicago in 1984 under the supervision of Commander John Burge (a name that will pop up more than once in this list). Leroy confessed to the murder after 12 hours of torture, during whom he was shocked and strangled. Also did not contribute to exculpatory sentence and that a private lawyer hired by the Orange family turned out to be extremely incompetent. January 10, 2003 Illinois Governor George Ryan pardoned Orange completely, acknowledging his innocence. At the end After all, John Burge was fired from the police force in 1993 for using torture of black detainees.

6. Jane Dorotik (served 19 years)



Jane Dorotic reported her husband missing after he went for a run and didn't come home. When he was found beaten to death on a treadmill, she became the prime suspect in his murder. Jane was ultimately found guilty on the basis of amateurish, contradictory and, undoubtedly, erroneous forensic evidence. She was released from prison in 19 years old at age 75 after final DNA analysis ruled her out as a suspect and identified an unnamed man as real criminal.

7. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (served 19 years)



Despite the lack of physical evidence and inconsistency with the description given by the only survivor after shooting, professional boxer Rubin Carter and his companion John Artis were found guilty of a triple murder that took place in pub in New Jersey in 1966. The Carter case attracted the attention of various celebrities (including Bob Dylan) who teamed up to release him, and he was released on bail - only to to be found guilty of the murders again in a retrial. In 1985 he was finally released on the basis of an act of habeas corpus, constitutional right to freedom from illegal and indefinite imprisonment conclusions.

8. Benny Starks (served 20 years)



In 1986, Benny Starks was found guilty of assaulting 68-year-old woman, although DNA analysis showed his non-involvement in crime. In 2006, the Court of Appeal demanded a new trial proceedings, and Starks was released on bail. By that time Starks has already spent 20 years in prison. In the following years, he achieved several court victories, and in the end the prosecutor's office decided to withdraw from him all charges. In 2013, a Lake County judge issued him a certificate of innocence.

9. Suzanne Johnson (served 21 years)



June 24, 1997 Suzanne Johnson looked after Jasmine Miller, who was only six months old at the time. Unfortunately, Jasmine fell off the highchair. At first the child looked normal, but about an hour later the girl began to vomit and lost consciousness. Susannah acted quickly. She called 911 and spent cardiopulmonary resuscitation before the arrival of an ambulance, but the girl did not survived. A forensic medical examination determined that Jasmine's death came as a result of severe shaking and craniocerebral trauma.

On April 30, 1999, Johnson was found guilty of assault resulting in death and sentenced to 25 years to life conclusions. However, in subsequent years, in the scientific understanding of the syndrome concussion and non-accidental injury progress has been made. Beliefs adhered to during her trial, lately in were largely rejected. In March 2020, Governor Newsom granted Suzanne Johnson's request for clemency.

10. Larry Mays (served 21 years)



On October 5, 1980, two men committed a robbery and brutally raped a female employee in Indiana. Some informant pointed out on Mike Denil and Larry Mays, who were then 30 years old, as on those the most criminals. During the investigation, the victim confidently identified Mays from a photograph as one of the two attackers. As a result he was charged with rape, robbery and kidnapping. AND given 80 years in prison for the totality of atrocities. However, Larry Mays Stopped talking about being innocent. Finally, in 2001, there were advances in DNA testing technology that proved Mays not involved in rape. In December 2001, everything was removed from him charges and released.

11. Ronald Kitchen (served 21 years)



July 27, 1988 after a fire in a house in south Chicago were the charred bodies of two women and three children were found. nine days later Ronald Kitchen, 22, and Marvin Reeves, 29, were arrested based on the fact that an imprisoned informant named Willie Williams said that Kitchen and Reeves confessed to him doing this. murders. Unfortunately, the misinformation provided by Williams led Kitchen directly into the hands of Commander John Burge of the Chicago police (it was already mentioned above). Kitchen was tortured and forced to incriminate himself. As a result, he received 21 years in prison, 13 of which he spent in a cell. suicide bombers. All chargesagainst Kitchen and Reeves were finally withdrawn July 7, 2009

12. Darrell Cannon (served 23 years)



On November 2, 1983, the police raided Darrell's apartment. Cannon, and then arrested him on suspicion of killing a local drug dealer. Instead of taking Cannon to the station, detectives took him to an abandoned place and tortured him with using a shotgun and a stun gun (we will not go into details). Cannon confessed. In 1984 he sentenced to life for a murder he knew nothing about.

Despite the nightmare of imprisonment, Cannon wrote a letter to his lawyer, in which he told the story of torture, which he subjected in 1983, which helped launch an investigation into the detectives involved. Cannon was released in 2007. His the perpetrators were never charged.

13. Michael Tillman (served 23 years)



Michael Tillman was imprisoned when he was 20 years old, accused of the murder of Betty Howard. Her body was found in the house where he lived, and convicted him on the basis of a confession extracted from him by Chicago torture policemen under the command of John Burge. The judges rejected the allegations tortured and declared that his confession was valid. They kept this point of view and further, although later for this crime he was detained and another person was imprisoned. Despite the fact that Tillman through 23 years acquitted and released, the family of the murdered still considers him guilty.

14. William Barnhouse (served 25 years)



On April 21, 1992, a 22-year-old girl was brutally raped behind an abandoned building in Muncie, Indiana. After that the police thoroughly searched the area and detained a suspect named William Barnhouse based on the victim's description. Then it was taken to the scene, and in the light of the flashlights, the victim indicated him as an attacker. During the ensuing trial proceedings, the prosecution relied on DNA evidence found at the crime scene, and presented them as a "silent witness" against Barnhouse, despite the lack of clear evidence. Protection tried to talk about a man suffering from a mental illness and fights with him all his life, but this also did not move the judge, rather, served as an aggravating factor. Barnhouse was sentenced to 80 years deprivation of liberty.

In 2016, new DNA analysis showed that Barnhouse was not is the source of the DNA found at the crime scene, and all the charges against him were dropped.

15. Jerry Miller (served 25 years)



On September 16, 1981, she was abducted in downtown Chicago and woman raped. She suffered a severe injury, but collaborated with authorities, and on the basis of her testimony, they drew up a portrait of the suspect. One of the policemen, seeing this portrait, remembered that in a few days before this crime, saw Jerry Miller peering out the window parked car. Miller was arrested. The victim could not to identify him as the assailant neither while she was in the hospital nor during the trial. However, the man was still convicted - for rape, robbery and kidnapping. person.

In 2005, advances in DNA testing provided important evidence that excluded Miller from the ranks of the perpetrators. With this win, Jerry Miller became the 200th person exonerated with DNA evidence in the United States.

16. Johnny Tallbear (Tall Bear) (served 26 years)



On October 3, 1991, in a junkyard in Oklahoma City, The mutilated body of a homeless man was found. Floyd Lewis, Johnny's friend, told police that he saw Tall Bear and another unnamed A criminal beat a homeless man to death. Based on false testimony despite the lack of physical evidence (blood samples from the crimes could not be matched with the blood of the suspect) Johnny prosecuted and convicted. In 2001, new DNA tests. In the end, the court overturned the guilty verdict.

17. Michael Evans (served 27 years)



In 1976, in Chicago, she was raped and killed near her 9 year old girl at home. Guilty found two 17-year-old boys, Michael Evans and Paul Terry. They blamed them solely onfalse testimony of the secretary of a real estate company located nearby crimes. And they put him in jail for 27 years. When the latest DNA analysis is completely exonerated them, the US Court of Appeals called the case "a tragedy epic proportions." Even after DNA testing cleared Evans and Terry, the DA left them in limbo for another three months. - as if 27 years wasn't enough - before finally taking off accusations.

18. Valentino Dixon (served 27 years)



Valentino Dixon rose to fame while incarcerated in United States, thanks to their brilliant paintings of golf courses. Dixon was charged at the age of 21 with murder with a firearm that took place in crowded area of Buffalo, despite the fact that a young man named Lamarr Scott confessed to the crime and many witnesses confirmed This. Dixon constantly maintained his innocence and throughout filed numerous appeals and petitions for many years. He was finally acquitted after 27 years in prison, when Scott, the real criminal, was already who was in prison on other charges, was found guilty in that murder case.

19. Clifford Jones (served 30 years)



In June 1980, a woman agreed to meet a man to have sex, in an apartment complex in Manhattan, but at the end finally changed my mind. Man raped her at knifepoint and then killed her one of the tenants of the house on the stairs. Four months later, the victim identified Clifford Jones from a photograph. Although the woman confessed to drug abuse and was high when she identified Jones, he was arrested and convicted.

Only in 2008, when DNA evidence from the site was examined crime, Clifford Jones was finally ruled out as a criminal. He had to seek a new trial for several more years. proceedings. Finally, in December 2014, after a long legal litigation, the New York Court of Appeals granted him a hearing. In 2017 Clifford Jones took further action by filing a civil suit. rights. In the end, he was awarded compensation in the amount of 12.6 million dollars in recognition of the injustice he endured for many years.

20. Henry McCollum and Leon Brown (served 30 years)



In 1984, Henry McCollum and his younger brother Leon, 19 and 15 years, respectively, were wrongfully convicted of a crime resulting in the death of an 11-year-old child. During the arrest, the brothers withstood lengthy interrogations without the presence of a lawyer. Though their business may not be as widely known as others, this is one of the most egregious examples police misconduct. Amazingly, during the arrest of two teenagers, the police made no meaningful effort to apprehend the true culprit.

In 2014, a new DNA test proved the brothers' innocence. After spending three decades behind bars, they were finally rehabilitated and released.

21. Andre Davies (served 31 years)



In August 1980, three-year-old Brianna Stickle was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Rantula, Illinois. Andre Davis was presented with charges of murder, child sexual abuse, kidnapping under aggravating circumstances and suffocation. Subsequently, in 1983, he was convicted and sentenced to 80 years in prison. However, over time Brianna's relative began to doubt Davis's guilt and called him to conduct a DNA analysis, although this has happened for more than two decades later. The results of the analysis became the road to freedom. In July 2012, After nearly 32 years of unjust imprisonment, Davis was finally released from prison. He filed a lawsuit and received compensation in the amount of 850 000 dollars for all the hardships that fell to his lot.

22. Keith Allan Harvard (served 33 years)



In 2015, Keith Allen Harvard was released from Nottoway Correctional Center after DNA testing proved him innocence in a 1982 murder and rape case in Newport News, Virginia. Although Harvard, who was sailor, was near the crime scene, the only identification against him was received from a security officer who saw someone in a bloodied uniform enter the dock. Prosecution and Harvard's conviction largely basedsit on such evidence like bite marks. The latest DNA analysis definitively cleared Harvard of the crime and actually showed that the cum, found at the crime scene belonged to one of his former colleagues who have already passed away. Despite its inconsistency, bite marks continue to be used as evidence in court and Today.

23. Malcolm Alexander (served 38 years)



In 1980, Malcolm Alexander was accused of rape, which he did not do. Despite the inconsistency and uncertainty of witnesses, he was found guilty solely on based on their testimony. His trial was very quick, lasting only one day, and the defense did not present any arguments or witnesses, proving his innocence. In fact, despite the fact that DNA evidence was available, no one checked it or presented it at the court. Malcolm Alexander spent 38 years in prison until took over the Midwest Innocence Project, which helps the innocently convicted. A new DNA test was ordered, which fully justified Alexander. He was rehabilitated and released from prison in 2018.

24. Kevin Strickland (served 43 years)



Kevin Strickland was wrongfully convicted of killing three man in 1978 based on the testimony of a single witness Cynthia Douglas. Although she first identified the other two men, who were convicted after pleading guilty, she later also identified Strickland. Then she refused these words, but it was late. Unfortunately, Strickland has already been found guilty and sentenced to life without parole.

In 2009, Cynthia Douglas approached the Midwest project. Innocence Project for help with the Strickland case. He was finally rehabilitated in 2021 after 42 years behind bars. This is one of the most longest wrongful imprisonment in US history. Since the state Missouri only pays compensation to those who are rehabilitated through DNA analysis, Strickland cannot claim any compensation.

25. Anthony Mazza (served 47 years)



Well, the cherry on the cake is the story of Anthony Mazza, who spent 47 years in prison. For robbery and murder, which are not did. Despite his mental retardation, Mazza tirelessly fought for justice alone for 32 years. During this time he filed four motions to reopen the case, despite the lack of legal help. Cellmates testified that Mazza's friend, Robert Anderson, confessed to setting him up. Unfortunately all four petitions were rejected or ignored.

In 2006, Anthony was very lucky: a statement was discovered brother Anderson, handed over to the police back in 1972. This statement provided important evidence supporting Mazza's innocence. Finally, on June 3, 2020, at the age of 73, Anthony was released from Norfolk State Prison. This man is for nothing spent almost 50 years in prison, never ceasing to hope that justice will prevail.