Ronald Keith Williamson

Go to Database Search Page

Go to Database Index Page

Charge:	Murder and Sexual Assault
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	12
Year Crime:	1982
Year Convicted:	1988
Year Cleared:	1999
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Oklahoma
County or Region of Crime:	Pontotoc
City of Crime:	Ada
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Ronald Keith Williamson aka Ron Williamson was codefendant of Dennis Fritz. Ron Williamson and Fritz were wrongly convicted in 1988 of the 1982 rape and murder of a 21-year-old woman in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma. Williamson was sentenced to death, and at one point his conviction was stayed five days from his scheduled execution. Dennis Fritz who was sentenced to life in prison. Both men were exonerated in 1999 by the testing of crime scene evidence (hair and semen) by DNA testing unavailable at the time of the men's conviction. The men's case was the subject of a book by best-selling author John Grisham, The Innocent Man (Doubleday 2006). Williamson died in 2004 at the age of 51."
Conviction Caused By:	"False prosecution informants, suspicious statements by Williamson and faulty hair analysis by the prosecution's expert lab technicians"
Innocence Proved By:	Exonerated in 1999 by the testing of crime scene evidence by DNA testing unavailable at the time of his conviction.
Defendant Aided By:	"Innocence Project NY and one of the lawyers was Cheryl Pilate of Kansas City, MO."
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	34
Age When Released:	46
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	Death Penalty Information Center
Information Location 1:	http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Innocentlist.html
Information Source 2:
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:
Information Location 3:
Information Source 4:
Information Location 4:
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
Book About Case:	The Innocent Man by John Grisham (Doubleday 2006)
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:
Comments About Case:

Go to Database Search Page

Go to Database Index Page

Ronald Keith Williamson

Charge:

Murder and Sexual Assault

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

12

Year Crime:

1982

Year Convicted:

1988

Year Cleared:

1999

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Oklahoma

County or Region of Crime:

Pontotoc

City of Crime:

Ada

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"False prosecution informants, suspicious statements by Williamson and faulty hair analysis by the prosecution's expert lab technicians"

Innocence Proved By:

Exonerated in 1999 by the testing of crime scene evidence by DNA testing unavailable at the time of his conviction.

Defendant Aided By:

"Innocence Project NY and one of the lawyers was Cheryl Pilate of Kansas City, MO."

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

34

Age When Released:

46

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

Death Penalty Information Center

Information Location 1:

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

Information Source 2:

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

The Innocent Man by John Grisham (Doubleday 2006)

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: