- It's scary enough going
to prison or death row for a crime, let alone one
that you didn't commit. Imagine going about your daily life, being a normal person
who stays within the law while minding your own business, when suddenly you're hauled away to prison for a crime that you didn't commit. Believe it or not, it has happened on more than one occasion. And shockingly, some
people were even wrongly sent to death row. So, today we're going to
be looking at these cases, what happened and how it was discovered that they were innocent. Here are 10 innocent
people convicted of crime. Number one is Kirk Bloodsworth. Being told that you're going to die within a certain amount of time is a terrifying thought to have, but receiving the news that you're going to be executed for a crime that you didn't even commit
is an even worse one. And that's just what happened in 1985 when honorably discharged
former Marine Kirk Bloodsworth was accused of raping and murdering a girl in Baltimore, Maryland. Bloodsworth spent a total
of nine years in prison with two of them served on death row. Throughout his entire incarceration, Bloodsworth spoke out about his innocence begging for the evidence in
his case to be rechecked. Eventually, advancements in DNA analysis brought new light to the case and proved the ex-Marine's innocence. And because of this, he
became the first man ever on death row to be
exonerated by DNA evidence. But, in a crazy twist, the real killer, Kimberly Shay Ruffner,
was discovered residing in a cell one floor below Bloodsworth. He confessed to the
rape and murder in 2004 and Bloodsworth was officially exonerated. Whew, talk about a close call. Number two is James Bain. It's pretty scary to do from being an average everyday man with
the occasional speeding ticket to being blamed for breaking and entering, kidnapping and rape. That's exactly what
happened to a Florida man named James Bain in 1974. Despite the claims of innocence and repeatedly requesting DNA testing, it took quite some time before the State of Florida's branch of the national non-profit organization the Innocence Project decided to help. Testing the DNA available,
they finally found evidence that proved Bain's innocence
allowing him to go free. Unfortunately, James had already spent over 35 years behind bars. When released, he held the record for the longest time served by an innocent man
released by DNA evidence and was given $1.7 million
compensation from the state. Damn, for 35 years, that
doesn't seem like enough. Number three is David McCallum. Would you ever confess to a crime that you didn't commit? And if you did, would
you name your accomplice as someone else that you knew? Well, at only the age
of 16, David McCallum had no choice but to do both. In October of 1985,
after being interrogated and told that his friend,
16-year-old Willie Stuckey, previously confessed to
the recent kidnapping and murder of 20-year-old Nathan Blenner. McCallum felt he had no other choice but to confess to the crime as well. But, as his lawyer would later prove, that confession came after rigorous, and some might say unethical questioning. There were multiple holes in the case including that the boys allegedly took Blenner's car for a
joyride after kidnapping him outside of his Brooklyn, New York home, even though neither
teen knew how to drive. Then, in 2014, nearly 29 years later, new evidence was discovered
which matched DNA and fingerprints found
inside Blenner's car that had been used in the abduction to other people proving McCallum
and Stuckey's innocence. Regretfully, Stuckey had
died in prison in 2001, but McCallum was finally free to catch up on all of those missing years. Number four is Thomas Kennedy. Okay, I've heard of daddy issues, but this one takes the cake. In 2001, Thomas Kennedy
was accused of rape by none other than his own
11-year-old daughter Cassandra. Kennedy denied that he had
done anything of the sort, but after an examination at the clinic, a physician found proof of
trauma to the child's body. After being convicted
of three counts of rape, on July 8th, 2002, Kennedy was sentenced to 15 years in prison. But then, 10 years later,
in January of 2012, Cassandra, then 22 years
old, finally admitted to police that her claims were false, and that her father was actually innocent. She explained that the trauma
that the doctors had found had been done due to prior sexual activity with a classmate who later
confirmed her story to police. And just a couple months later, Kennedy was released from custody. It turns out Cassandra accused him because he was drinking and smoking weed and she simply didn't like that. And finally, in September of 2014, Thomas Kennedy was awarded $520,000 by the State of Washington for
his wrongful incarceration. Number five is Robert Dewey. Robert Dewey had to endure the unthinkable after being accused of
murdering a 19-year-old woman in Palisade, Colorado on June 4th, 1994. Even though DNA tests
came back either negative or inconclusive, prosecutors were certain that they had their man
and continued their case on only circumstantial evidence. Sentenced to life in prison in 1996 without a possibility of parole, Dewey not only missed out on
the birth of his grandchildren, but had to remain locked
up when his only son died missing the funeral and the burial. Even after his release
17 years later in 2011, due to DNA tests which
proved his innocence, nothing could be done to
bring Robert Dewey's son back. Not even the financial
compensation he received for being wrongfully convicted could help the grieving man deal
with what he had lost. Number six is James Richardson. What's equally as upsetting
as a father missing out on his own son's funeral? How 'bout a man being sent to prison after being framed for the murder of all seven of his children
by the police themselves. After his six daughters,
all under the eight, and two-year-old son were poisoned on October 25th, 1967, their father, Florida resident James
Richardson was arrested and quickly convicted of the crime. To many, the trial
seemed incredibly unfair with the lead investigator
Sheriff Frank Cline seemingly out to make a name for himself. In addition, the judge wasn't objective referring to Richardson as a guilty man during the court hearing. James Richardson spent 21
years locked up for the crime even though he insisted he didn't do it. And the testimony of at
least two of the officers at the scene conflicted with each other. The children were killed by eating lunches laced with pesticide, and it was said that
Richardson killed them for the insurance money. But, years later, a women
who had been babysitting the children while their
parents were working stepped up and confessed to the crime allowing Richardson to
finally be freed in 1988. Number seven is Juan Rivera. On August 17th, 1992, 11-year-old
babysitter Holly Staker was strangled and stabbed over 30 times while looking after two children
at their home in Illinois. During the investigation, 19-year-old Puerto Rican-born Juan Rivera, a man with a history of mental illness, was questioned after claiming
he was at a party nearby and saw a man acting suspiciously
near the children's home. But, unbelievably, instead of just taking the man's statement,
detectives browbeat him causing him enough psychological stress to actually admit to the crime. Despite the DNA evidence
linking the murder to another person, Rivera
was still found guilty until he was finally
exonerated 20 years later in 2012 after it was found no evidence could actually link him to the crime. Not only did none of the fingerprints found in Staker's home match Rivera's, but thanks to wearing
an electronic monitor from a prior conviction, it was proven he did not even leave his
home the night of the murder. Number eight is Clarence Lee Brandley. On August 23rd, 1980, 16-year-old student Cheryl Dee Fergeson was murdered in a loft above the auditorium of her high school during a volleyball game in Conroe, Texas. Two custodians were arrested
as the prime suspects, a Caucasian man named Henry Peace and an African-American man
named Clarence Lee Brandley. During the joint
interrogation of the two men, Wesley Styles, a Texas
Ranger, investigated the case and claimed that one of them would hang and elected it to be Brandley based purely on the color of his skin. Brandley plead innocent,
but apparently all evidence that would have proved it wasn't him was either lost or stolen. On top of that, his
polygraph tests were faked and anyone who claimed his innocence were either blackmailed or harassed. Brandley was given the death penalty, but lucked out when James Dexter
Robinson, a white janitor, admitted to the murder after
taking his own polygraph test. Finally, after getting an appeal, the judge spared Brandley's life and released him in 1990 stating that "no case presented a
more shocking scenario "of the effects of racial prejudice". Number nine is Ricky Jackson. On May 19th, 1975,
while walking to a store in Cleveland, Ohio,
businessman Harold Franks was attacked by two assailants. The attackers beat him and shot him twice killing the man before
running off with his briefcase and leaping into a car
where a getaway driver waited for them. Ricky Jackson, alongside two others known as the Bridgeman Brothers, were convicted of the
assault and the murder. With no physical evidence linking any of the suspects to the crime, the prosecutor's case
stemmed from a testimony given by Eddie Vernon, a 12-year-old boy who claimed to have
witnessed the entire thing. Then, in 2014, Vernon
changed his testimony stating that "at the time, police had threatened "and coerced him into blaming Jackson "and the Bridgeman Brothers". In fact, during the
time of Frank's murder, the school bus Vernon was on was over a block away from the crime scene. Luckily, upon release in 2014
after 39 years behind bars, Jackson received $2 million
for which he considered to be fantastic. And number 10 is Stephen Dennison. Our last entry is definitely an example of the wrong punishment for the crime. Imagine serving half of
your life behind bars simply because you shoplifted a candy bar? Well, that's just what happened to 16-year-old Salem New
Yorker Stephen Dennison who in 1925 decided he didn't want to pay for some chocolate
and instead pocketed the candy only to be caught by
the shopkeeper and arrested. Keep in mind that the
chocolate was only worth $5. For this, Dennison was given
a 10-year suspended sentence, but when he failed to check
in with the local minister, he was soon after incarcerated. But, it got much worse because
after a clerical error, Dennison was transferred to an institute for defective delinquents
and due to his treatments was actually starting
to go a little crazy. So, after his 10 years were up, he was then sent to a hospital
for the criminally insane where he was practically
forgotten until the 1960s, 34 years after stealing
$5 worth of chocolate. That was when his brother had enough and hired lawyers who
realized that Dennison had been entitled to a trial in 1936 to see if he was actually insane. He was soon released,
and on March 16th, 1966, New York gave him a settlement of $115,000 to make up for the mistake. Again, that definitely
does not seem worth it. So, those were 10 innocent people who were wrongly convicted. But, I want to know from you, is there another person
who is wrongfully convicted of a crime that deserved
to be on this list that you know about. Leave your response below because I'll be reading through them and I'll pin the best comment to the top. Thanks for coming by today, guys. If you enjoyed this, make
sure you hit that like button and remember to come back here tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time because I'll have a
brand new video for you. I'll see you then.
