Dennis Williams

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Charge:	Murder and Rape
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	18
Year Crime:	1978
Year Convicted:	1979
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:	"Dennis Williams was one of the Ford Heights Four who were wrongly convicted in 1979 of 1978 murders in Ford Heights, Cook County, Illinois. Williams was sentenced to death. The Ford Heights Four 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 Ford Heights Four who split settlements totaling $36 million. The State of Illinois paid Williams $140,430 in wrongful imprisonment compensation."
Conviction Caused By:	"Convicted based on the false confession of Paula Gray, who was also convicted, but not considered one of the Ford Heights Four. False conviction contributed to by false prosecution informant, prosecutorial misconduct and eyewitness error."
Innocence Proved By:	Post-conviction DNA testing.
Defendant Aided By:	Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions and Innocence Project NY
Compensation Awarded:	"$12,940,430 total. $12,800,000 (Cook County, 1999) and $140,430 (State of Illinois, 1997)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	21
Age When Released:	39
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	Patrick Crusade database & website
Information Location 1:	http://www.patrickcrusade.org/wrongful.htm
Information Source 2:
Information Location 2:	""A Promise of Justice: The eighteen-year fight to save four innocent men," David Protess and Rob Warden, Hyperion, 1998"
Information Source 3:
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:	http://www.truthinjustice.org/crusaders.htm
Information Location 4:
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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:
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Dennis Williams

Charge:

Murder and Rape

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

18

Year Crime:

1978

Year Convicted:

1979

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:

"Convicted based on the false confession of Paula Gray, who was also convicted, but not considered one of the Ford Heights Four. False conviction contributed to by false prosecution informant, prosecutorial misconduct and eyewitness error."

Innocence Proved By:

Post-conviction DNA testing.

Defendant Aided By:

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

Compensation Awarded:

"$12,940,430 total. $12,800,000 (Cook County, 1999) and $140,430 (State of Illinois, 1997)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

21

Age When Released:

39

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

Patrick Crusade database & website

Information Location 1:

http://www.patrickcrusade.org/wrongful.htm

Information Source 2:

Information Location 2:

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

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

http://www.truthinjustice.org/crusaders.htm

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

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: