Watch the documentary film, The Phantom, written and directed by Patrick Forbes (2021). See the Chicago Tribune’s Investigation, Did This Man Die…for This Man’s Crime? See Professor James Liebman and the Columbia DeLuna Project, The Wrong Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution (Columbia Universty Press, 2014).įor a shorter version of Professor James Liebman’s investigation, see Los Tocayos Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution (2012). In 2021, Netflix released a critically acclaimed documentary film, The Phantom, about the case. Professor Liebman’s website for the book includes extraordinarily detailed documentation of the case, including police and witness records, trial transcripts, and photographs. Moreover, Hernandez had a history of violent crimes similar to the murder for which DeLuna was executed. Hernandez and DeLuna looked so similar that their own families mistook photos of the men for each other. Their 2014 book, The Wrong Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution, describes the faulty eyewitness testimony, the police’s failure to investigate Carlos Hernandez, and the misrepresentations by the prosecution that “the other Carlos” DeLuna claimed committed the killing was “a phantom,” while one of the prosecutors knew of Hernandez’s existence and his criminal history. Subsequent investigation by Professor James Liebman of Columbia Law School and a team of his students in the Columbia DeLuna Project unearthed powerful evidence of DeLuna’s innocence and described in detail serious problems in the prosecution’s case against him. ![]() The new evidence cast strong doubt on DeLuna’s guilt. The evidence uncovered by reporters Maurice Possley and Steve Mills cast doubt on DeLuna’s guilt and points towards another man, Carlos Hernandez, who had a record of similar crimes and repeatedly confessed to the murder.Ī news piece aired on ABC’s “World News Tonight” also covered this story. The defendant, Carlos DeLuna, was executed for the fatal stabbing of Texas convenience store clerk Wanda Lopez in 1983. Nathaniel Woods (Alabama, convicted 2005, executed 2020)Ĭarlos DeLuna Texas - Convicted: 1983 Executed: 1989Ī Chicago Tribune investigation released in 2006 revealed groundbreaking evidence that Texas may have executed an innocent man in 1989.Walter Barton (Missouri, convicted 1993, executed 2020).Larry Swearingen (Texas, convicted 2000, executed 2019).Domineque Ray (Alabama, convicted 1999 executed 2019).Carlton Michael Gary (Georgia, convicted 1986, executed 2018).Robert Pruett (Texas, convicted 2002, executed 2017).Richard Masterson (Texas, convicted 2002, executed 2016).Brian Terrell (Georgia, convicted 1995, executed 2015).Lester Bower (Texas, convicted 1984, executed 2015).Troy Davis (Georgia, convicted 1991, executed 2011).Sedley Alley (Tennessee, convicted 1987, executed 2006).Cameron Todd Willingham (Texas, convicted 1992, executed 2004).Claude Jones (Texas, convicted 1989, executed 2000).Gary Graham (Texas, convicted 1981, executed 2000).Leo Jones (Florida, convicted 1981, executed 1998). ![]() David Spence (Texas, convicted 1984, executed 1997).Joseph O’Dell (Virginia, convicted 1986, executed 1997).Larry Griffin (Missouri, convicted 1981, executed 1995).Ruben Cantu (Texas, convicted 1985, executed 1993).Carlos DeLuna (Texas, convicted 1983, executed 1989). ![]() Some cases with strong evidence of innocence include: It is now broadly accepted that the judicial review provided to death-penalty cases in the United States has been inadequate to prevent the execution of at least some prisoners who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death. Defense attorneys move on to other cases where clients’ lives can still be saved. Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the defendant is dead. There is no way to tell how many of the 1582 people executed since 1976 may also have been innocent.
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