Verneal Jimerson

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Charge:	Murder and Rape
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	18
Year Crime:	1978
Year Convicted:	1985
Year Cleared:	1996
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Illinois
County or Region of Crime:	Cook
City of Crime:	Ford Heights
Result:	Judicially Exonerated and Later Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"Verneal Jimerson was one of the Ford Heights Four. Co-defendant Paula Gray falsely confessed and implicated her three co-defendants. Jimerson was sentenced to death. Jimerson and his co-defendants were exonerated after a 14 year effort that included David Protess' journalism class at Northwestern University. Police were given the identity of the killers 5 days after the murders, but concealed that information from the FHF who split settlements totaling $36 million."
Conviction Caused By:	Co-defendant Paula Gray falsely confessed and implicated her three co-defendants.
Innocence Proved By:	Post-conviction DNA testing.
Defendant Aided By:	Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions and Innocence Project NY
Compensation Awarded:	"$8,920,300 total. $8,800,000 Cook County, 1999) and $120,300 (State of Illinois, 1997)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	17
Age When Released:	35
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	Death Penalty Information Center
Information Location 1:	http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Innocentlist.html
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Book About Case:	""A Promise of Justice: The eighteen-year fight to save four innocent men," David Protess and Rob Warden, Hyperion, 1998"
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Verneal Jimerson

Charge:

Murder and Rape

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

18

Year Crime:

1978

Year Convicted:

1985

Year Cleared:

1996

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Illinois

County or Region of Crime:

Cook

City of Crime:

Ford Heights

Result:

Judicially Exonerated and Later Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Co-defendant Paula Gray falsely confessed and implicated her three co-defendants.

Innocence Proved By:

Post-conviction DNA testing.

Defendant Aided By:

Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions and Innocence Project NY

Compensation Awarded:

"$8,920,300 total. $8,800,000 Cook County, 1999) and $120,300 (State of Illinois, 1997)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

17

Age When Released:

35

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

Death Penalty Information Center

Information Location 1:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Innocentlist.html

Information Source 2:

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Book About Case:

""A Promise of Justice: The eighteen-year fight to save four innocent men," David Protess and Rob Warden, Hyperion, 1998"

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: