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Jeffrey Koonce

Jeffrey Koonce

In 1983, Jeffrey Koonce was convicted of an armed robbery in Mount Vernon, New York. He was paroled in 1992 and exonerated in 2024 after a re-investigation of his case found that the police used a flawed photo array to link Koonce to the crime. (Photo: New York Post) ​
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Robert Melock

Robert Melock

In 1989, Robert Melock was sentenced to death for the murder of his grandmother in Waukegan, Illinois. He was exonerated in 2024 based on withheld evidence that showed a jailhouse informant had falsely testified that Melock admitted to the crime, as well as evidence that the lead detective had a history of obtaining false confessions. ​(Photo: Loevy & Loevy)
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Joshua Burns

Joshua Burns

In 2015, Joshua Burns was sentenced to a year in jail for child abuse after medical experts blamed his daughter's physical ailments on abusive head trauma. He was exonerated in 2024 based on expert testimony that the prosecution's experts had mistakenly attributed retinal hemorrhages and subdural bleeding to abuse. Burns pictured with his wife, Brenda, and their daughter, Naomi (Photo: Facebook) ​
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Sandra Hemme

Sandra Hemme

Sandra Hemme was convicted in 1981 of a murder in St. Joseph, Missouri. She received a new trial in 1984 and was convicted again in 1985. Hemme was exonerated in 2024, after her attorneys presented evidence that Hemme's confession was false and that the state had failed to disclose evidence pointing to an alternate suspect. (Photo: HG Biggs/The Kansas City Star)​
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Joseph Bennett

Joseph Bennett

In 1998, Joseph Bennett was sentenced to life in prison for a fatal shooting at a nightclub in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. He was exonerated in 2024 based on witnesses who identified the real gunman and said Bennett had left the club by the time of the shooting, as well as evidence that the prosecution's firearms analyst overstated his conclusions. (Photo: WGBH)​
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Exonerations before 1989

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