Delbert Tibbs

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Charge:	Murder and Rape
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	3
Year Crime:	1974
Year Convicted:	1974
Year Cleared:	1977
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Florida
County or Region of Crime:	Lee
City of Crime:	Ft. Myers
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Delbert Tibbs was wrongly convicted in 1974 of murdering a 27-year-old man and raping the man's 16-year-old companion near Fort Meyers, Florida on November 23, 1974. When first questioned by the police, 220 miles from the scene of the crime he was released because he didn't fit the rape victim's description of her attacker. She erroneously identified him when she saw his photo. Both victims were white and Tibbs was black. During Tibbs trial the prosecution's key evidence was the woman's identification of Tibbs as her attacker and a former cell mate testified Tibbs confessed to him. After the jury convicted Tibbs he was sentenced to death. In 1977 Florida's State Supreme Court overturned Tibbs' convictions and sentence. The charges were subsequently dismissed and he was freed after three years on death row. Tibbs was 74 when he died on November 23, 2013 at his home in Chicago, Illinois. Tibbs' case was one of those featured in the stage play "The Exonerated" first performed in New York and Los Angeles in 2002, and which was later adapted into a tilmed televisoin production."
Conviction Caused By:	"Erroneous eyewitness identification of Tibbs by the 16 year old rape victim, and perjurious testimony by a jailhouse informant."
Innocence Proved By:	In 1977 Florida's State Supreme Court overturned Tibbs' convictions and sentence. The charges were subsequently dismissed and he was freed after three years on death row.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
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. 163."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	Death Penalty Information Center
Information Location 2:	http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Innocentlist.html
Information Source 3:	Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern School of Law
Information Location 3:	http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/FLATibbs.htm
Information Source 4:	"Delbert Tibbs, Who Left Death Row and Fought Against It, Dies at 74, By Bruce Weber (staff), The New York Times, December 7, 2013"
Information Location 4:	http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/us/delbert-tibbs-who-left-death-row-and-fought-against-it-dies-at-74.html?_r=0
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Delbert Tibbs

Charge:

Murder and Rape

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

3

Year Crime:

1974

Year Convicted:

1974

Year Cleared:

1977

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Florida

County or Region of Crime:

Lee

City of Crime:

Ft. Myers

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"Erroneous eyewitness identification of Tibbs by the 16 year old rape victim, and perjurious testimony by a jailhouse informant."

Innocence Proved By:

In 1977 Florida's State Supreme Court overturned Tibbs' convictions and sentence. The charges were subsequently dismissed and he was freed after three years on death row.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

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. 163."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

Death Penalty Information Center

Information Location 2:

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

Information Source 3:

Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern School of Law

Information Location 3:

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/FLATibbs.htm

Information Source 4:

"Delbert Tibbs, Who Left Death Row and Fought Against It, Dies at 74, By Bruce Weber (staff), The New York Times, December 7, 2013"

Information Location 4:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/us/delbert-tibbs-who-left-death-row-and-fought-against-it-dies-at-74.html?_r=0

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: