Justice: Nine Californians among 235 freed after being wrongly convicted
DeShawn Reed was freed in May after spending more than seven years in prison for a West Oakland double murder that, later evidence showed, was most likely committed by another man.
He was one of nine Californians cleared of past criminal convictions in 2017, including two men who had spent more than 30 years behind bars, according to the annual report of the National Registry of Exonerations. Nationwide, the report said, 139 former convicts were exonerated in individual cases, and at least 96 others were cleared in “group exonerations” in Chicago and Baltimore after revelations that police had been framing people for drug crimes.
The report also found that investigative organizations like the Innocence Project, and similar work by Conviction Integrity Units in 33 district attorneys’ offices around the country, played roles in uncovering some of the wrongful convictions. The private organizations played a role in 54 exonerations last year, and the prosecutors’ units in 42, the report said.
“Fifty or a hundred years ago, an innocent defendant in prison had no one to turn to,” said the registry’s editor, Barbara O’Brien, a Michigan State University law professor. “The main reason we’re seeing more exonerations now is that they can seek help from innocence organizations and prosecutors’ offices who are committed to fixing wrongful convictions and are increasingly working together.”
Out of the 139 exonerations, the report said, 84 involved misconduct by prosecutors, police or other officials, the highest number ever recorded. There were 87 cases involving perjury or false accusations and 29 in which confessions were later found to be false. Texas had the most exonerations of any state, 23, while California ranked fifth.
Reed was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the fatal shootings of Victor Johns, 29, and John Jones, 56, in a West Oakland neighborhood in March 2010.
Reed, then 26, suffered from mental disabilities and had no record of violence. But a police officer and another witness identified him as a passenger in a car that drove away from the scene after the shootings, and a small amount of gunshot residue was found on his hands.
A state appeals court overturned his convictions in January 2017, saying Reed’s lawyer had failed to present evidence that could have undermined the prosecution’s case and pointed to another man as the shooter. That man, who died before the case went to trial, was spotted near the scene of the shooting, lied to an officer about his whereabouts, had a possible motive, and left a palm print in the getaway car, the court said.
Reed was released in May after the Alameda County district attorney’s office decided not to retry him. Jason Watts, convicted of murder for driving the getaway car, remains in prison.