Russell Gray spent three years in prison for a murder he did not commit before the real perpetrator admitted guilt and Gray was pardoned by the Governor of Virginia.

In July 1986, Charles Gray and another man went to the Richmond home of another man whom they had been recently quarreling with.  As the tension between the groups of men heightened, Gray’s friend fired shots at the third man’s house, hitting his stepfather in the neck.  Eight days later, the stepfather passed away due to his wounds.

Both the stepson and his mother told police that Charles Gray’s brother Russell was the shooter.  The stepson picked out Russell Gray’s mug shot in a photo book as the trigger man, and the widow, who did not see the shots fired, identified Gray as someone who was at the crime scene just before and shortly after her husband was killed.  Witness misidentification is the lead cause of wrongful convictions.  The stepson also said that the shooter was wearing shorts. 

In Gray’s one day trial, his attorney Carey Bowen attempted to prove that he was not there.  Gray showed a disfiguring scar on his leg that kept him from ever wearing shorts. A number of people in the neighborhood testified that they had never seen him wear shorts. Bowen also called a number of alibi witnesses who placed Gray at another place at the time of the shooting.  Although the jury expressed skepticism over the stepson’s testimony, the judge denied their request to review the transcript of his testimony.  Gray was eventually convicted and sentenced to 52 years.

Despite the conviction, Bowen continued his investigation, interviewing more potential witnesses.  All of his investigation led pointed to a third man, Michael Harvey, who was an alibi witness in Gray’s defense at trial.  Harvey eventually confessed to a Richmond detective that he was the shooter and that Gray was not involved.  Bowen also found a new witness who testified seeing Harvey at the scene and that he was wearing the same shorts described by the stepson.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence of his innocence, Gray’s exoneration was held up by legal red tape.  Because Harvey was a defense witness, his testimony could not be held against the prosecution.  Gray was left with no judicial options.  With the help of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, then-Governor L. Douglas Wilder issued a pardon in April 1990.

Harvey eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case and served eight years in prison.

Thirty years after they were wrongfully convicted of a murder they had no involvement in, Michael Damien, Nick Sousa and Wayne Eastridge had their sentences vacated thanks to a long investigation by Centurion Ministries .

In November 1974, the three men were leaving a birthday party at a bar in Washington D.C. with other guests when an altercation started with three other men.  Minutes later, as the men headed back to their vehicles, two of the three other men returned and one of them shot a member of Damien, Sousa and Eastridge’s group.

Upon hearing gunshots, Sousa got into his car and drove away while Damien and Eastridge attempted to leave the scene on foot. Four members of the men’s group chased after the shooter, Johnnie Battle, and stabbed him to death in retaliation for shooting their friend.  All of the men fled the scene before police could arrive.

Sousa eventually saw Damien and Eastridge and picked them up, also picking up Steve Jones, who had been a member of their party.  What the three men did not know was that Jones was one of the four men to chase and stab Battle.  Sousa also did not know the area of Washington D.C. and eventually ended up back at the bar they had just hastily left.

Back at the scene of the crime, all four men were questioned by police.  Because Jones had blood on his clothes, all four men were immediately identified as suspects. The police searched Sousa’s car and uncovered a couple of old knives.

Still, police did not have enough evidence to convict the men until seven months later, when Sousa’s ex-girlfriend Dorothy Willetts told police that Both Sousa and Eastridge had confessed to committing the crime on multiple occasions. She never said anything about Damien allegedly confessing, but he was also charged and convicted for the murder.

In 1989, Centurion Ministries Investigator Kate Germond began reinvestigating the case.  For the next fifteen years Germond tracked down and interviewed a large number of people with knowledge about the night.  Germond discovered that Willetts had made up the story after a bitter breakup with Sousa.  Germond received statement’s from nearly all of the witnesses that were allegedly present during these confessions and they each confirmed that Willetts had made them up.

Steve Jones, who had also maintained his innocence all along, eventually confessed to his involvement in the crime and named the three other men who had actually chased down and killed Battle.  Using this information, Germond spoke with other people who were there that night, each of whom confirmed Jones’ statement.

Centurion turned the case over to a legal team which included lawyers from Wilmer Hale.  In 2005, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer vacated their sentences and prosecutors agreed not to retry the men. Sadly Damien, who had been released on parole in 1995, passed away after suffering a heart attack months before his name was cleared.
   

Cornell Estes was 15-years-old when he was convicted of a murder he had no involvement in and sentenced to life in 1979. Estes served a year in prison before police found the real perpetrators in the Baltimore County case.

Estes and a 13-year-old boy were found near the scene where 33-year-old Donna Turner was robbed of her purse and stabbed in the chest by two other young men. Estes and his co-defendant were interrogated for 11 hours without being read their Miranda rights and had no attorneys present before the younger boy confessed to the crimes. False confessions are one of the lead causes of wrongful convictions. The boy later alleged that his confession was a repetition of what police officers told him to say.

The two boys lived together at a group home. They were registered as leaving the home 25 minutes before the crime was committed, though it would have taken them nearly an hour to get there by foot and they had no access to cars.

Despite the questionable confession and circumstantial evidence, Estes was convicted of murder and armed robbery and sentenced to life in prison.

A year after Estes was convicted, two other young men were arrested in suspicion of committing two other similar murders. While being interrogated, police discovered that Lawrence Johnson, 18 and Dwayne Mayers, 20, had actually murdered Turner. The two confessed to the murder and Estes was released in March 1980.

Four years after being exonerated, Estes was compensated $16,500 for his wrongful conviction. Both Mayers and Johnson are still incarcerated for their multiple murders.