Richard Anthony Jones

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Charge:	Robbery (includes armed robbery)
Sentence:	19 years
Years Imprisoned:	17.5
Year Crime:	1999
Year Convicted:	1999
Year Cleared:	2017
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Kansas
County or Region of Crime:	Johnson
City of Crime:	Roeland Park
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Richard Anthony Jones was wrongly convicted in 1999 of aggravated robbery in a purse snatching on May 31, 1999 the a Walmart parking lot in Roeland Park, Kansas. The prosecution of Richard Jones was based on his identification by the victim and other eyewitnesses who picked him from a photo lineup three months after the crime. Jones' picture was the only one of the six photos of a man who resembed the eyewitnesses' description of the assailant. There was no physical or forensic evidence linking Jones to the crime. Jones' alibi defense was that at the time of the crime he was with his girlfriend and other family members across the state line in Kansas City, Kansas where he lived. Richard Jones was sentenced to 19 years in prison. After his conviction Jones discovered that there was another prisoner with the same first name as him who lived near the scene of the crime, and who had an uncanny resemblance to Jones. When during a post-conviction investigation the eyewitnesses were shown a photo of the other man, they recanted their identifaction of Jones on the basis they couldn't be sure it was him they had seen. Based on the new evidence Jones filed a post-conviction motion for a new trial. On June 7, 2017 Jones' conviction was overturned by a Johnson County judge based on the new evidence that the witnesses recanted their identification of Jones. On December 18, 2018 the State of Kansas agreed to pay Richard Jones $1.1 million under the state's wrongful imprisonment statute. Jones was the first person awarded compensation under the law enacted earlier in 2018."
Conviction Caused By:	Mistaken eyewitness testimony by the victim and other witnesses.
Innocence Proved By:	"On June 7, 2017 Jones' conviction was overturned by a Johnson County judge based on the new evidence that the witnesses recanted their identification of Jones."
Defendant Aided By:	Midwest Innocence Project and the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project at the University of Kansas
Compensation Awarded:	"$1.1 million (State of Kansas, 12-18-2018)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	18
Age When Released:	41
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"KC man jailed 17 years for purse snatching released after judge overturns conviction, By Toriano Porter, Kansas City Star, June 8, 2017"
Information Location 1:	http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article155202169.html
Information Source 2:	"He spent almost 17 years in jail. Then he found his doppelganger and was freed, By Tony Rizzo, Miami Herald, June 8, 2017"
Information Location 2:	http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article155488984.html
Information Source 3:	"Kansas to pay $1.1M in wrongful conviction look-alike case, By Heather Hollingsworth, AP News, December 19, 2018"
Information Location 3:	https://apnews.com/5f7dddb5a5fb495cbcb6b54b627b9f03
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Richard Anthony Jones

Charge:

Robbery (includes armed robbery)

Sentence:

19 years

Years Imprisoned:

17.5

Year Crime:

1999

Year Convicted:

1999

Year Cleared:

2017

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Kansas

County or Region of Crime:

Johnson

City of Crime:

Roeland Park

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Mistaken eyewitness testimony by the victim and other witnesses.

Innocence Proved By:

"On June 7, 2017 Jones' conviction was overturned by a Johnson County judge based on the new evidence that the witnesses recanted their identification of Jones."

Defendant Aided By:

Midwest Innocence Project and the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project at the University of Kansas

Compensation Awarded:

"$1.1 million (State of Kansas, 12-18-2018)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

18

Age When Released:

41

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"KC man jailed 17 years for purse snatching released after judge overturns conviction, By Toriano Porter, Kansas City Star, June 8, 2017"

Information Location 1:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article155202169.html

Information Source 2:

"He spent almost 17 years in jail. Then he found his doppelganger and was freed, By Tony Rizzo, Miami Herald, June 8, 2017"

Information Location 2:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article155488984.html

Information Source 3:

"Kansas to pay $1.1M in wrongful conviction look-alike case, By Heather Hollingsworth, AP News, December 19, 2018"

Information Location 3:

https://apnews.com/5f7dddb5a5fb495cbcb6b54b627b9f03

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

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Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

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