Wrongful Conviction Facts

Forensic scientists can determine a person's sex, age, and race by examining a single strand of hair.

Archie Williams spent 36 years in Angola for a crime he didn't commit - wrongfully convicted in 1983 after a witness misidentified him. A fingerprint database cleared him in 2019, identifying another man who had already died behind bars. A year later, he sang 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me' on America's Got Talent. Every judge stood up.

Ricky Jackson is 18, headed to death row for a crime he did not commit. The only witness is a 12-year-old boy whose story was fed to him by police. He walks out 39 years, 3 months, and 9 days later - the longest wrongful sentence in US history. Cleveland pays him $7.2 million. He forgives the kid.

Ryan Ferguson spent nearly 10 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit - convicted after a witness claimed he 'remembered' the night through dream-like flashbacks. Both witnesses later admitted they lied. An appeals court freed him, then a jury handed him $37.9 million.

Brian Boles was 17 when police handcuffed him to a chair for two days and fed him a false confession to a crime he didn't commit. He spent 30 years locked up - and used that time to enroll in the Bard Prison Initiative. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology two months before a judge officially cleared his name.