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First Dna Death Row

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First DNA Death Row Exoneration
Kirk Bloodsworth

Kirk Bloodworth, a former marine was exonerated by DNA in 1993 of the rape and murder of nine-year-old Dawn Hamilton – a crime were he was sentenced to death in Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1985. Bloodworth’s conviction was reversed in 1986, he occupied a cell above Kimberly Shay Ruffner, who was serving a sentence for a rape and who – a decade after Bloodworth’s exoneration – would be linked by DNA to the rape of the Hamilton child.
The testimony of Bloodworth was giving by five witnesses who placed him either with the victim or near the crime scene. The prosecution also introduced evidence of a pair of shoes on the victim’s body. The Maryland court overturned Bloodworth conviction in 1986 and he was retried and was found guilty again and was sentence to two life terms.
In 1992, the Centurion Ministries of Princeton in New Jersey helped Bloodworth for testing biological material that was preserved from the crime. After the FBI confirmed the result of Bloodworth innocent, he then was released in June 28,1993. He was the first U.S. death row prisoner to be exonerated by DNA
In 2003 a Baltimore County forensic biologist was studying the evidence and found stains on the bed sheet. Investigator ordered DNA testing and ran the national DNA database, which than linked Ruffner to the crime. Which he was in jail already for another rape. The state paid Bloodworth $ 300,000 for lost income which in my opinion is not enough. But I am glad that they had linked the right person to the crime and I’m thankful for the technology of today.

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/md/kirk-bloodsworth.html

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