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About the Registry

The National Registry of Exonerations is a joint project of the University of the Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. We provide detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989—cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges.

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To see the list of exonerations and information about them, browse our ever-growing database. We currently have over 1,120 recorded.

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Exoneration News

'Michael Morton Act' to Reduce Wrongful Convictions Signed Into Law
5/16/2013
Texas governor Rick Perry has signed a bill requiring prosecutors to hand over to defense lawyers any evidence relevant to their case. The bill was named for Michael Morton, who was wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and exonerated by DNA 25 years later. Ken Anderson, who prosecuted the case as district attorney, is accused of deliberately withholding evidence of Morton's innocence.
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Featured Exonerations
Larry Lane Hugee
State: MD
Date of Exoneration: 5/16/2013
Larry Lane Hugee (flanked by University of Baltimore Innocence Project lawyers Joseph Owens and Michele Nethercott) was convicted of robbing a store in Fruitland, Maryland in 2004 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 2012, Hugee was released because the prosecution failed to disclose that a key witness had a history of drug and mental problems. Charges were dismissed on May 16, 2013. (Photo courtesy of University of Baltimore Innocence Project)

Randolph Arledge
State: TX
Date of Exoneration: 5/3/2013
In 1984, Randolph Arledge was convicted of murder in Corsicana, Texas based on false testimony from two witnesses who claimed he confessed to the 1981 crime. The Innocence Project obtained DNA testing of evidence that excluded Arledge and linked to another man who stabbed a woman and committed numerous other crimes after Arledge was convicted. (Photo is of Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck and Arledge on the day of his release)

Nathaniel Johnson
State: NY
Date of Exoneration: 4/30/2013
Nathaniel Johnson was convicted of armed robbery in Buffalo, New York in 2010 and sentenced to five years in prison. He was exonerated after the real robber was identified through the efforts of a private investigator and the Erie County District Attorney's Office. (Photo by Robert Kirkham, courtesy of the Buffalo News)

Joseph Awe
State: WI
Date of Exoneration: 4/29/2013
Joseph Awe, shown with his wife, Irene, after his release from prison, was convicted of arson and sentenced to three years in prison in 2007 for burning down J.J.'s Pub in Harrisville, Wisconson. His conviction was vacated and the case dismissed in 2013 after new forensic evidence proved the fire was accidental.  (Photo courtesy of Wisconsin State Journal)