Connecticut Wrongful Conviction Cases
1. James Calvin Tillman
Wrongfully convicted of rape, kidnapping, assault, robbery, and larceny in 1989. Exonerated in 2006 after DNA evidence proved his innocence; served approximately 16–18 years.

2. Alfred Swinton
Wrongfully convicted of murder based largely on bite-mark evidence; conviction vacated in 2017. Served roughly 16–19 years before exoneration.

3. Stefon Morant
Served 21+ years before release; his conviction was vacated/exonerated and has been active in advocacy.

4. Miguel Roman
Served over 20 years before exoneration for a murder he did not commit; highlighted in historical innocence case descriptions.

5. Kenneth Ireland
Served 21 years before post-conviction DNA testing proved his innocence; conviction overturned.

6. Shawn Henning & Ricky Birch
Wrongfully convicted in the 1985 murder of Everett Carr; convictions were vacated and they settled a wrongful conviction lawsuit after decades in prison.

7. Marquis Jackson
Served about 18–19 years before wrongful conviction was recognized; the state has moved toward compensation.

8. Vernon Horn
Co-defendant with Marquis Jackson; also served approximately 18+ years and is part of state compensation claims.

9. Maceo “Troy” Streater
Wrongfully incarcerated 23 years for a homicide he maintained he did not commit; received a pardon and is slated for compensation.

10. Alexy Martinez-Mercado
Conviction for first-degree sexual assault vacated in 2023; he is pursuing compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

11. Ismail Abdus-Sabur

12. Stephen Spiegelman

NYS Exoneration Numbers and Trends
• New York has among the highest numbers of wrongful conviction exonerations in the U.S., with hundreds of exonerees recorded since 1989. 
• As many as 303 or more wrongful convictions have been officially recognized, though advocates stress that many remain uncorrected under current law.

Central Park 5 / Exonerated Individuals
This group of teenagers was wrongfully convicted in connection with the 1989 Central Park jogger case; their convictions were vacated in 2002:
13.  Antron McCray
14. Kevin Richardson
15. Yusef Salaam
16. Raymond Santana
17. Korey Wise

Recent & High-Profile NY Exonerations:
18. Renay Lynch – Exonerated after nearly 26 years, Buffalo, 1995 murder/robbery case (conviction vacated in 2024) 
19. Brian Boles and Charles Collins – Convictions vacated in 2025 for a 1994 Harlem murder

Exonerees in New Jersey: These individuals had convictions overturned, vacated, or dismissed after evidence later proved they were innocent:

20. David Shephard – Exonerated in 1994 after DNA testing cleared him of a 1983 rape conviction based on mistaken eyewitness identification.

21. Byron Halsey – Exonerated by DNA in 2007 for a homicide-related/sex crime case; false confession evidence and improper forensic science were factors.

22. Eric Kelley – Exonerated on April 6, 2018 (along with Ralph Lee) of 1996 felony murder and robbery convictions in Paterson.

23. Ralph Lee – Exonerated in the same case as Eric Kelley (1996 murder and robbery).

24. Gerard Richardson – Served 19 years for a 1995 murder he did not commit; DNA evidence ultimately excluded him and led to his 2013 exoneration.

25. Dion Miller – Wrongfully convicted for the 2007 murder of Romeo Cavero based on false confessions; his conviction was vacated and dismissed in 2023.

NJ Cases Still Under Review
26. Darren Boykins – Convicted in 1981 for murder in Newark and maintains his innocence; attorneys are currently pushing for his conviction to be vacated based on withheld evidence and recanted informant testimony.

Known Pennsylvania Wrongful Convictions & Exonerations
27. Walter Ogrod – Wrongfully convicted in 1996 of the 1988 murder and sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl in Philadelphia; his conviction was vacated and he was released in 2020 after more than two decades on death row, as the so-called confession was later recognized as false.

28. Anthony Wright – Wrongfully convicted in 1993 for a 1991 rape and murder in Philadelphia; served about 25 years before DNA evidence contradicted his coerced confession, leading to a retrial and acquittal.

29. Alexander McClay Williams – Convicted in 1931 as a teenager and executed; in 2022 his conviction was posthumously overturned after recognizing it was coerced, with evidence suggesting racial bias and a coerced confession.

30. Subramanyam Vedam (aka “Subu”) – Convicted in 1983 for murder and sentenced to life, his conviction was vacated by a Pennsylvania court in October 2025

25 were posthumous exonerations
These cases include individuals whose convictions were vacated or declared wrongful after death. Posthumous exonerations sometimes involve cases from earlier eras where modern review finds the conviction was clearly unjust. 

31. Alexander McClay Williams — Convicted and executed in 1931; cleared decades later when evidence of coercion and bias emerged.

32. Tommy Lee Walker — A man whose conviction was declared innocent 70 years after his execution.

33. Alexander McClay Williams — Convicted and executed in 1931 in Pennsylvania; conviction overturned in 2022 after review found coercion and racial bias.

34. Tim Cole — Wrongfully convicted of rape in Texas; died in prison and later DNA testing led to posthumous exoneration.

35. Joe Arridy — Convicted and executed in Colorado, Executed in 1939 despite serious doubts about guilt and intellectual disability, granted posthumous pardon in 2011 based on innocence evidence

36. George Stinney (South Carolina) -14 years old when executed in 1944.
Youngest person executed in the U.S. in the 20th century.
Conviction vacated in 2014 due to constitutional violations and lack of evidence.

Known Wrongful Convictions (Exonerations) in the U.S.
• According to the National Registry of Exonerations, as of mid-2025 there are about 3,698 recorded exonerations of innocent people in the United States since 1989, based on new evidence proving innocence

• Researchers and innocence advocates acknowledge that exonerations represent only a fraction of wrongful convictions, since most cases do not receive the legal review or evidence (like DNA) needed to overturn them. 
• Some studies extrapolate that 1 % to 5 % of convictions nationally could involve innocent people — which, if applied to millions of annual convictions, could mean tens of thousands of people wrongly convicted each year.

The Hidden Population
What we can reasonably say:

• Thousands of innocence claims are filed each year.
• Most are denied on procedural grounds.
• “Not newly discovered” is one of the most common procedural barriers in state post-conviction law.
• Those denials are not systematically tracked in a public national database.