James Willie Cochran

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	21
Year Crime:	1976
Year Convicted:	1977
Year Cleared:	1997
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Alabama
County or Region of Crime:	Jefferson
City of Crime:	Homewood
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"James Willie Cochran AKA Bo Cochran was wrongly convicted in 1977 of first-degree murder and robbery for the shooting death of a grocery store assistant manager following a robbery of the store in Jefferson County, Alabama on November 14, 1976. James Cochran maintained his innocence throughout four trials and 21 years on death row. The first trial ended in a mistrial. The second resulted in a conviction and death sentence that were reversed when the United States Supreme Court struck down Alabama’s death penalty statute. The third trial resulted in a conviction and death sentence that were reversed because prosecutors had illegally removed black people from the jury. At Mr. Cochran’s fourth trial – which was his first fair one – the jury acquitted him. There were no eyewitnesses to the murder and it would have been impossible for Mr. Cochran to move the victim’s body under a trailer in a nearby mobile home park at the same time that he was being chased by police. Mr. Cochran’s case is featured in the documentary film 'Death in Dixie.' (Equal Justice Initiative) Cochran died on July 12, 2016 at the age of 73."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"James "Bo" Cochran was acquitted in 1997 after his fourth retrial."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	33
Age When Released:	54
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"Innocence: List of Those Freed From Death Row, Death Penalty Information Center"
Information Location 1:	http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row
Information Source 2:	"Alabama's Exonerated, Equal Justice Initiative"
Information Location 2:	http://www.eji.org/eji/files/alabamasexonerated.pdf
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Book About Case:
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:	Death in Dixie' documentary made in 1997 about the death penalty in Alabama
Comments About Case:

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James Willie Cochran

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

21

Year Crime:

1976

Year Convicted:

1977

Year Cleared:

1997

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Alabama

County or Region of Crime:

Jefferson

City of Crime:

Homewood

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"James "Bo" Cochran was acquitted in 1997 after his fourth retrial."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

33

Age When Released:

54

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Innocence: List of Those Freed From Death Row, Death Penalty Information Center"

Information Location 1:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row

Information Source 2:

"Alabama's Exonerated, Equal Justice Initiative"

Information Location 2:

http://www.eji.org/eji/files/alabamasexonerated.pdf

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

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Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Death in Dixie' documentary made in 1997 about the death penalty in Alabama

Comments About Case: