UPDATE: 10/15/08 - After Arthur Johnson's attorney, Emily Maw of the Cardozo Innocence Project, prevailed upon Mississippi authorities to run the rape kit DNA through the state's DNA bank, a match was found and the real rapist was identified.  Sunflower County authorities could no longer maintain the charade that Arthur Johnson was anything but innocent.  All charges against him have been dropped.  No word on whether these authorities will apologize to the woman who was raped by the real criminal while Arthur was wrongly imprisoned. 

A New York state appellate panel has thrown out the convictions of Daivery Taylor, a Long Island personal injury attorney and his firm, Silverman & Taylor, finding that the state presented insufficient evidence that the defendants used "steerers" to sign up accident victims or that they coached clients to fabricate injuries.  The 2nd Department not only threw out the conviction but also dismissed the 32-count indictment.

Joe White, Thomas Winslow, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Kathy Gonzalez, Deb Sheldon and James Dean were convicted of murdering and raping 68-year-old Helen Wilson in 1985.  White and Winslow were convicted by juries; the other defendants were convinced by police investigators to plead guilty.  DNA tests obtained in White's and Winslow's bids for exoneration prove that none of the six defendants had anything to do with Mrs. Wilson's murder.  She was killed by Bruce Allen Smith, who acted alone.

After 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, William Dillon of Viera, Florida has been freed on bail after DNA excluded him as the killer.  His retrial is scheduled for January, 2009.  His lawyer, Melissa Montle of the Florida Innocence Project, says she doesn't see how he can be retried.  "All they have is a fraud, an admitted perjurer, a snitch, and a half-blind eyewitness." 

Steven Barnes of Utica, NY was convicted of rape and second-degree murder in the strangling death of Kimberly Simon, a high school student, in 1985. At his trial, a crime lab analyst testified that impressions on Barnes' truck matched Ms. Simon's jeans, a conclusion that simply cannot be supported by science.  Tests concluded in mid-November, 2008 showed that Barnes' DNA matched none of four samples found on Kimberly Simon's body and clothing.  After almost 20 years in prison, Steven Barnes is a free man.

In 2006, authorities in Sunnyvale, CA realized that Mashelle Bullington was not the gun-toting burglar they thought when they locked her away for more than three years in prison in 1995.  But it was not until November of 2008, during a brief hearing, that her name was finally cleared.

Miguel Roman has been in prison in Connecticut since 1988 for the rape and murder of his girlfriend, Carmen Lopez.  He was convicted despite trial testimony from an FBI investigator that tests, even back in 1988, excluded Miguel as the killer.  Now DNA has not only excluded him, but has identified the real killer and tied him to two other rape/murders.  We may be premature to list Miguel among the freed, because he is still in prison, but we hope the Connecticut authorities will do the right thing -- finally.  This case is proof, once again, that when an innocent person is wrongly convicted, the real criminal is free to commit more crimes.

UPDATE:  Miguel's conviction was set aside, a new trial was ordered, and he was freed on December 19, 2008.

It was bad enough when, in the mid-1990's, a shotgun blast tore away half of Ricardo's face.  He survived, badly disfigured.  But that ordeal was nothing compared with what happened in 2003 -- Ricardo was convicted of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy and sentenced to 40 years in prison.  While Ricardo was locked up, the assaults continued, but the authorities ignored his pleas of innocence.  Other inmates helped him obtain DNA testing that excluded Ricardo and identified the serial predator.

In 1998, when teacher Jimmy Ates of Crestview, Florida was convicted -- 7 years after the crime -- of murdering his wife, the only evidence prosecutors had against him was the FBI test that concluded the lead in the bullets that killed Norma Ates matched the lead in bullets Jimmy owned.  The bullet lead test was discredited in 2005.  Now Jimmy's conviction has been reversed and he has been given a new trial.

James S. Anderson of Los Angeles, CA has spent his last Christmas behind bars in the State of Washington. A state appeals court erased the 31-year-old's conviction for armed robbery, saying new evidence uncovered by a University of Washington Law School student corroborates what Anderson has always said: He was in California when a group of men hit a Tacoma grocery store in 2004.

A state appellate court has ordered a new trial for Chaunte Dean Ott, a Milwaukee, WI man accused of murdering a South Milwaukee runaway in 1995.  Tests showed DNA found on the victim matched DNA discovered on two other slaying victims, raising the specter that a serial killer is still at large.  Police and prosecutors continue to insist they believe Chaunte is guilty, since they do not want to admit they not only got the wrong guy, they also kept the real killer on the streets to rape and murder at least two more women.

HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS

JUNK SCIENCE

Wisconsin Law Journal takes a look at life after exoneration in that state:
Putting Broken Lives Back Together
After the Door Opens

INNOCENCE PROJECTS