Dennis Fritz

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Charge:	Murder and Sexual Assault
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	12
Year Crime:	1982
Year Convicted:	1988
Year Cleared:	1999
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Oklahoma
County or Region of Crime:	Pontotoc
City of Crime:	Ada
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Dennis Fritz was codefendant of Ronald Williamson. Williamson and Fritz were wrongly convicted in 1988 of the 1982 rape and murder of a woman. Fritz was sentenced to life in prison, while Ron Williamson who was sentenced to death. Both men were exonerated in 1999 by the testing of crime scene evidence (hair and semen) by DNA testing unavailable at the time of the men's conviction. The men's case was the subject of a book by best-selling author John Grisham, The Innocent Man (Doubleday 2006). Journey Toward Justice, published in 2006 by Seven Stories Press is Dennis Fritz's first-person account of the ordeal he and Ron Williamson endured."
Conviction Caused By:	"False prosecution informants, suspicious statements by Williamson and faulty hair analysis by the prosecution's expert lab technicians"
Innocence Proved By:	Exonerated in 1999 by the testing of crime scene evidence by DNA testing unavailable at the time of his conviction.
Defendant Aided By:	"One of the lawyers was Cheryl Pilate of Kansas City, MO. Innocence Project NY."
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	27
Age When Released:	39
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	Innocence Project database
Information Location 1:	http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=60
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Book About Case:	Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz (Seven Stories Press 2006)
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):	The Innocent Man by John Grisham (Doubleday 2006)
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:
Comments About Case:

Go to Database Search Page

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Dennis Fritz

Charge:

Murder and Sexual Assault

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

12

Year Crime:

1982

Year Convicted:

1988

Year Cleared:

1999

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Oklahoma

County or Region of Crime:

Pontotoc

City of Crime:

Ada

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"False prosecution informants, suspicious statements by Williamson and faulty hair analysis by the prosecution's expert lab technicians"

Innocence Proved By:

Exonerated in 1999 by the testing of crime scene evidence by DNA testing unavailable at the time of his conviction.

Defendant Aided By:

"One of the lawyers was Cheryl Pilate of Kansas City, MO. Innocence Project NY."

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

27

Age When Released:

39

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

Innocence Project database

Information Location 1:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=60

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Book About Case:

Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz (Seven Stories Press 2006)

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

The Innocent Man by John Grisham (Doubleday 2006)

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: