Highest Number of U.S. Exonerations Ever in 2014

There were a lot of bad convictions in the U.S. that were overturned or dismissed in 2014. The National Registry of Exonerations claims that 125 individuals were falsely convicted and subsequently exonerated last year. This is a record number. There were 34 more exonerations than in 2013. The registry that tracks these is a joint program at two law schools: the University of Michigan and Northwestern University.

More than half of the cases are serious felonies, such as homicides and sex crimes trials that frequently end in life sentences. Often, these are cases that were prosecuted at a time when scientific evidence was just starting to come into the courtroom and scientific techniques were novel and unreliable. Either that or the convictions were based only on eye-witness testimony and only later vacated by modern DNA evidence.

However, a significant number of the overturned cases were lower level felony drug possession cases. The quantities in question are often minute, with convictions stemming from amounts less than one gram, sometimes only several-hundredths of one gram.

Which City had the Most Exonerations? Houston, By Far

Texas had the most overturned convictions in 2014 with 39. That is more than double New York’s 17 exonerations, the state with the second-highest tally. And of the 39 Texas exonerations, an astounding 33 are from Harris County—all of them drug cases. This is almost totally the result of lab processing delays and early guilty pleas. Defendants who are unable to bond out and fight their case, plead guilty on the first court setting to get out of jail or get on with their sentences (often there is incentive to get on with the sentence, such as 2-for-1 or even 3-for-1 credit for days served). The sentences of the exonerated defendants in Harris County ranged from probation to two years in state jail or prison.

Have you been arrested for a crime? Call my office: 817-689-7002. Come into the office for a free and confidential case evaluation. Our office is downtown: 108 Main Street, Fort Worth, TX,76102