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.