5 inmates freed after years on death row — and the evidence that saved them

Life on death row is rarely dull in the existential sense. Quite the opposite, in fact. But day to day? Well, the meals are bland, the walls are concrete and the sense of looming finality likely makes thinking about anything other than death row pretty tricky. But the stories hidden inside those cells can be stranger than anything a television writer might come up with. Especially when the wrong man is locked up and doomed to state execution. Here are the stories of five men who spent years facing the ultimate punishment, only to be declared innocent and released. They entered as convicted killers and left as exonerated citizens, carrying the weight of lost decades and facing the peculiar experience of walking back into a world that had already said goodbye to them… (Picture: AP/Getty/Reuters)

Table of Contents

Glenn Ford

His release finally came in 2014 when information emerged pointing to another man as the actual perpetrator of the crime. Prosecutors acknowledged that credible evidence confirmed that Ford was not involved in the killing which cleared the way for the conviction to be quashed. After years of appeals that had gone nowhere, he was suddenly regarded as a man who never should have been charged at all. He walked out of Angola with a single plastic bag and an expression that suggested disbelief. A perfectly rational response, under the circumstances. (Picture: AP)

Glenn Ford

This, unfortunately, was a sad story all round. Freedom for Glenn proved short lived. Ford had developed advanced lung cancer while in custody which was diagnosed only after release. He died only 15 months later having received exactly nothing in the way of compensation from the state. In the brief time he was out, he spoke candidly about the years the system took from him. His story remains a grim reminder of how easily a life can be misdirected once a flawed conviction is handed down. And how – once you’re locked up – no one believes your side of the story at all. (Picture: AP/WAFB-TV 9)

Damon Thibodeaux

Damon Thibodeaux is one of the estimated 150+ Americans to have been on death row only to be exonerated and released. He was convicted in 1997 for the murder of his teenage step-cousin in Louisiana. The case rested heavily on a confession obtained after hours of questioning conducted while he was exhausted and overwhelmed. Forensic evidence pointing directly to him was non-existent, yet the confession persuaded the jury to convict and the state secured a death sentence. Thibodeaux entered death row as a young man and remained there through several state administrations and more than a decade of appeals. (Picture: AP)

Damon Thibodeaux

Life after prison took him to Minnesota where he earned his high school diploma and began working at Fredrikson & Byron, the law firm that helped to exonerate him, while also speaking publicly about the dangers of false confessions, according to Innocence Project. Tragically, Damon died in 2021 from COVID-19 complications. He remains one of the clearest examples of how a case built on flawed interrogation can be overturned only when advanced science is properly utilized. (Picture: William Edwards/AFP via Getty Images)

Henry McCollom

He was only 19 when he was convicted in 1984 for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in rural North Carolina, and authorities dished Henry McCollum out the ultimate punishment. His half brother Leon Brown, who was 15, was also convicted alongside him. Both were interrogated for hours without legal assistance and both had intellectual disabilities that made them particularly vulnerable to being unfairly railroaded by police. McCollum received the death sentence and found himself on death row once the state concluded it had solved its case and found its men. The supposed confessions played a central role and the rest followed with grim inevitability. (Picture: REUTERS)

Henry McCollom

Everything changed three decades later, however. In 2014, DNA testing conducted on crime scene evidence identified another man as the source of biological material found at the scene. This particular individual lived near the victim and already had a record involving similar crimes. The results undermined the original case completely. A judge vacated the convictions and the two brothers were released after spending most of their adult lives inside prison walls. The revelation that the real perpetrator had been living nearby the entire time only added to the scale of the injustice for the unfortunate pair. (Picture: AP Photo/The News & Observer, Chuck Liddy)

Henry McCollom

Since walking free Henry has tried to build a quieter life which is no small task after three decades defined by concrete, clangs and fluorescent lighting. He and his brother sought financial compensation which a civil jury later granted. The duo received a total of $75 million in compensation after a jury awarded them $31 million each – $1 million for each year of their wrongful conviction. Plus extra damages. Henry appears at various public events and speaking engagements where he talks about wrongful convictions. (Picture: AP)

Anthony Ray Hinton

Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested way back in 1985 in Birmingham, Alabama, and charged with two separate capital murders involving two restaurant managers that were killed during two different robberies. There were no eyewitnesses and zero fingerprints linking him to either scene. And, given it was ’85, no DNA evidence, either. The prosecution’s case hinged entirely on a state firearms expert who claimed that the bullets from both crime scenes matched a revolver found in Hinton’s mother’s home. An all-white jury convicted him and he received the death penalty. He entered death row insisting he was innocent. Yet the evidence against him relied on analysis that would later fall apart quite spectacularly. (Picture: AP Photo/Alabama Dept. of Corrections)

Anthony Ray Hinton

Years later, three independent firearms experts examined the revolver and bullets and all three agreed that the weapon couldn’t have fired the fatal rounds. The state resisted reconsideration up until 2014 when the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the conviction due to inadequate defense representation. With the original evidence discredited, prosecutors dismissed the charges fully. In April 2015, Hinton walked out a free man after spending roughly 30 years on death row, where he’d survived by reading hundreds of books and learning how to write. Something which would soon come in handy… (Picture: Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)

Anthony Ray Hinton

After his eventual release, Anthony became an author and a speaker working with the Equal Justice Initiative to highlight problems within the criminal justice system, including underfunded defense work and unreliable forensic testimonies. He travels extensively to speak about his experiences and often uses his amusing personality to get his point across. Presumably it’s a form of gallows humor picked up from his time on death row. (Picture: AP Photo/Hal Yeager)

Jimmie Duncan

Our final case is a much more recent one. In fact, Jimmie ‘Chris’ Duncan has only just been released on bail. It’s also a more complicated one as a final resolution is yet to be reached, with the state appealing the ruling that overturned his conviction. He was convicted in Louisiana in 1998 for the murder of a 23-month-old girl — the daughter of his then-girlfriend. The state alleged he had drowned and sexually assaulted her and relied heavily on bite mark analysis provided by forensic dentist Dr Michael West. Duncan was sentenced to death and spent 27 years at Angola Prison maintaining that he was innocent of one of the worst crimes imaginable. The bite mark evidence played a central role in his conviction. (Picture: The Murder That Never Happened via Facebook)

Jimmie Duncan

This year, newly-revealed video footage showed Dr. West pressing a mould of Duncan’s teeth against the child’s body during the supposed analysis, according to Innocence Project. This revelation, along with expert testimony describing the evidence as ‘scientifically indefensible’, led a judge to vacate Duncan’s conviction. He was released on bail in November 2025 pending further proceedings while the state pursue an appeal. (Picture: Mwalimu Center for Justice via AP)

Jimmie Duncan

Since returning home, Chris has been living with relatives in central Louisiana while his legal team works to defend the ruling. His case remains unresolved and until that happens, there remains potential for further legal action. (Picture: AP)

5 inmates freed after years on death row — and the evidence that saved them

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class=”wp-block-heading”>Glenn Ford

Glenn Ford

Glenn Ford

Damon Thibodeaux

Damon Thibodeaux

Damon Thibodeaux

Henry McCollom

Henry McCollom

Henry McCollom

Anthony Ray Hinton

Anthony Ray Hinton

Anthony Ray Hinton

Jimmie Duncan

Jimmie Duncan

Jimmie Duncan

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See also Powerful labor union urges public to join ‘No Kings Day’ protests (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Sponsored class=”wp-block-heading”>Glenn Ford

Glenn Ford

Glenn Ford

Damon Thibodeaux

Damon Thibodeaux

Damon Thibodeaux

Henry McCollom

Henry McCollom

Henry McCollom

Anthony Ray Hinton

Anthony Ray Hinton

Anthony Ray Hinton

Jimmie Duncan

Jimmie Duncan

Jimmie Duncan

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See also Powerful labor union urges public to join ‘No Kings Day’ protests

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class=”wp-block-heading”>Glenn Ford