Kirk Bloodsworth

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Charge:	Murder and Rape
Sentence:	Death and later resentenced or commuted to Life
Years Imprisoned:	9
Year Crime:	1984
Year Convicted:	1985
Year Cleared:	1993
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Maryland
County or Region of Crime:	Baltimore
City of Crime:	Baltimore
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Kirk Bloodsworth was wrongly convicted in 1984 of murder and sentenced to death. After his conviction was reversed on appeal, he was reconvicted after a retrial and resentenced to two life terms in prison. Released on June 28, 1993, after a DNA test unavailable at the time of his conviction conclusively excluded him as the assailant. Maryland Governor William Schaefer granted Boodsworth a full pardon in December 1993 based on his actual innocence. In 1994 the State of Maryland awarded Bloodsworth compensation of $300,000 for lost income, based on the rough calculation that he would have earned about $30,000 a year for the 10 years from his arrest to his release."
Conviction Caused By:	Seemingly suspicious statements given under pressure of police questioning.
Innocence Proved By:	A DNA test unavailable at the time of his conviction conclusively excluded him as the assailant.
Defendant Aided By:	Centurion Ministries
Compensation Awarded:	"$300,000 (State of Maryland, 1994)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	23
Age When Released:	32
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996), pp. 35-37."
Information Location 1:	http://www.dna.gov/case_studies/convicted_exonerated/
Information Source 2:	Innocence Project Homepage
Information Location 2:	http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=21
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Kirk Bloodsworth

Charge:

Murder and Rape

Sentence:

Death and later resentenced or commuted to Life

Years Imprisoned:

9

Year Crime:

1984

Year Convicted:

1985

Year Cleared:

1993

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Maryland

County or Region of Crime:

Baltimore

City of Crime:

Baltimore

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Seemingly suspicious statements given under pressure of police questioning.

Innocence Proved By:

A DNA test unavailable at the time of his conviction conclusively excluded him as the assailant.

Defendant Aided By:

Centurion Ministries

Compensation Awarded:

"$300,000 (State of Maryland, 1994)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

23

Age When Released:

32

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996), pp. 35-37."

Information Location 1:

http://www.dna.gov/case_studies/convicted_exonerated/

Information Source 2:

Innocence Project Homepage

Information Location 2:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=21

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: