Terry W. Seaton

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	6
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	1973
Year Cleared:	1979
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	New Mexico
County or Region of Crime:	Lea
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Terry W. Seaton was wrongly convicted in 1973 of murder in Lea County, New Mexico. In 1974 the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed Seaton's conviction. Seaton filed a federal habeas corpus petition that was granted in 1979 by a federal district court judge based on the prosecution's concealment of exculpatory evidence pointing to another suspect as the actual murderer. The Lea County District Attorney declined to retry Seaton and his charges were dismissed and he was released in 1979 after 6 years of wrongful imprisonment. Terry Seaton was awarded $150,000 from Lea County in a wrongful arrest suit in 1981."
Conviction Caused By:	Prosecution concealed exculpatory evidence pointing to another suspect as the actual murderer
Innocence Proved By:	New evidence cast strong doubts about his guilt
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"$150,000 (Lea County, 1981)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 159."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	Actual Innocence - Exonerated Individuals whose cases involved prosecutorial misconduct
Information Location 2:	http://www.publicintegrity.org/pm/default.aspx?sid=sidebarsb&aid=38
Information Source 3:	525 P.2d 858
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:
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Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Terry W. Seaton

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

6

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1973

Year Cleared:

1979

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New Mexico

County or Region of Crime:

Lea

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Prosecution concealed exculpatory evidence pointing to another suspect as the actual murderer

Innocence Proved By:

New evidence cast strong doubts about his guilt

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"$150,000 (Lea County, 1981)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 159."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

Actual Innocence - Exonerated Individuals whose cases involved prosecutorial misconduct

Information Location 2:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/pm/default.aspx?sid=sidebarsb&aid=38

Information Source 3:

525 P.2d 858

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: