Ten Exonerations

SCOTT FAPPIANO
The Crime: In December 1983, a white, armed male broke into the Brooklyn, N.Y., home of a police officer and his wife. The man raped the woman and forced her to perform lewd acts on her husband. After the woman identified Fappiano from a photo lineup as the perpetrator, he was tried in 1985 and convicted of rape, sodomy, burglary and sexual abuse and sentenced to 20-50 years in prison.

The Exoneration: Although the Innocence Project began representing Fappiano in 2003, it took two years for the evidence from the case to turn up — including a pair of sweatpants worn by the woman during the crime. Multiple rounds of DNA testing on the sweatpants, which contained DNA from both a female and male, matched the victim, but not the victim's husband or Fappiano. The convictions against Fappiano were vacated in October 2006 after he served 21 years. "I'm just happy that it's over," he said at the time. The real perpetrator has not yet been found.

MARVIN ANDERSON
The Crime: In July 1982, a young white woman was threatened, beaten, and raped by a black man who approached her on a bicycle in Virginia. When the victim told police that during the attack the had said that he "had a white girl," immediately, the officers singled out Anderson as the suspect since he was the only man they knew who lived with a white woman. Officers obtained a color photo identification card from Anderson's employer and presented it to the victim with a series of black-and-white photos of other people. The victim identified Anderson, and at age 18 was tried and convicted of two counts of abduction, robbery, forcible sodomy and rape.

The Exoneration: Since the beginning of the case, Anderson had an alibi, and evidence had pointed toward the owner of the bike, John Otis Lincoln. In 1988, Lincoln confessed to his part in the crime but the judge declared that Lincoln was lying. In 2001, the Innocence Project was informed that DNA swabs from the victim's body were available. The results excluded Anderson as the assailant; markers on the samples matched two other men, including Lincoln. Anderson had spent 15 years in Virginia prison. Lincoln was tried and convicted of the crime in 2003.

KENNETH WYNIEMKO
The Crime: In April, 1994, a man sexually assaulted a woman several times after breaking into her home in Clinton, Mich. Prior to leaving the home, the man, who was wearing a nylon stocking over his head, forced the victim to wipe her underwear to discard of any DNA evidence he could have left behind and drink a soda. The victim assisted police in creating a composite sketch, and, although she said it was only about 60% accurate, the produced image looked like Wyniemko, then 43, who was being held on a misdemeanor charge. He was convicted of breaking and entering, armed robbery, and criminal sexual conduct.

The Exoneration: During the investigation, police found DNA evidence on the victim's sheets and clothing, but it was never analyzed. In 2003, the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division tested the items found at the scene of the crime, which contained DNA from the victim's husband as well as that from another man who was not Wyniemko. "The first thing I want to do right now is go to church and say some prayers of thanks," Wyniemko said after his conviction was overturned in 2003. He served 8.5 years in prison.

JAMES WALLER
The Crime: Two brothers, aged 12 and 7, awoke one morning in November 1982 to find a male in their Texas home, wearing a cowboy hat and bandanna over half of his face. The man sexually assaulted the 12-year-old boy. Later that day, the victim thought he heard the voice of the assailant and when he turned around, saw James Waller, who also lived in his apartment building. James Waller was later sentenced to 20 years after being convicted of aggravated sexual abuse.

The Exoneration: In 2006, 23 years after his conviction, some of the DNA from a rape kit that had never been tested was found not to belong to Waller. The judge then vacated his conviction and Gov. On March 9, 2007, Rick Perry pardoned him officially He was the 200th person the Innocence Project exonerated. "I want to get married again," he told CNN. "I want a wife and I want a baby and I'll probably will name her Grace... If I have a boy, I may name him Mercy."

CALVIN JOHNSON
The Crime: After being charged, but not convicted, in a 1981 rape case, Johnson became a primary suspect in a series of two rapes that took place two days apart in March 1983. Both female victims, from College Park, Ga., were choked and sexually assaulted by a black man, and one of them identified Johnson as the rapist in a photo lineup. He was convicted for burglary, aggravated sodomy and rape.

The Exoneration: In 1997, after several failed attempts for a new trial, the Innocence Project took on Johnson's case, filing an extraordinary motion for a new trial, which would allow DNA testing from the rape kit to be conducted. DNA from the kit did not match Johnson's, and after a new trial in 1999, the District Attorney dropped all charges. After his release, Johnson said "I don't see any reason to harbor any bitterness. If you hold something like that inside you, it just destroys you. Now it's time for me to go on with my life." Johnson served 16 years of his life sentence and has since written the book "Exit to Freedom" and joined the Innocence Project's board of directors.

TRAVIS HAYES and RYAN MATTHEWS
The Crime: A masked man entered a Louisiana store and demanded money from the owner. When he refused, the man fatally shot the owner and then fled the scene while firing shots outside and jumping into a getaway car. A witness later said she saw the perpetrator remove his clothes, and also claimed she saw his reflection in the rear view mirror of his car. She was crucial in identifying Ryan Matthews. He was stopped in his car by police hours later. Ryan Matthews was a friend of Travis Hayes at the time was with him in the vehicle. Both Matthews and Hayes were 17 at the time and described to be somewhat mentally disabled, confessed that they were party to the murder. Matthews was eventually sentenced to death, and Hayes, who was said to have driven the getaway car, was also convicted but of the charge of second-degree murder.

The Exoneration: DNA testing in another murder case proved to be the key to Matthews' and Hayes' freedom. Rondell Love, who committed a murder just days after the killing for which Matthews and Hayes were convicted, bragged in jail about committing both murders. DNA on the mask from the first murder matched Love's not Matthews' or Hayes'. In June 2004, Matthews was exonerated, but it took lawyers at the Innocence Project more than two years to bring Hayes back to court. In December 2006, after Hayes served eight years in prison, he was released. "I always knew it would happen, so it wasn't a surprise to me," Matthews said at the time. "Never give up hope, no matter how bad it gets."

ANTONIO BEAVER
The Crime: A man robbed and attacked a woman with a screwdriver outside her car in a St. Louis parking lot in August 1996. As she fled the scene, the victim noticed the assailant's blood covered the driver's side door. The victim could identify two distinguishable features about her attacker: he was about 5'10'' and had a "David Letterman-like" gap between his teeth. Police drew a composite sketch and although he was 6'2" and had chipped teeth, Beaver did resemble the sketch so they arrested him. The victim identified him in a lineup, and he was sentenced to 18 years for first-degree robbery.

The Exoneration: Even though the investigators collected the perpetrator's blood at the scene, it wasn't used in Beaver's defense. He requested DNA testing in 2001, filing the motion on his own behalf. The Innocence Project agreed to take over his case in 2006 and the state agreed to testing. The tests proved that Beaver did not commit the crime. "I'd like to give my thanks to God, because there is a God, and he knew I was innocent from the start," he said after a judge dropped all charges against him. He had served more than a decade in prison.

ROLANDO CRUZ
The Crime: In February 1983, a 10-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Illinois. When police found her body in the woods near her home, they discovered several sets of footprints, indicating more than one person had committed the crime. Under questioning by police Alejandro Hernandez accused an acquaintance, Rolando Cruz and continued to implicate Cruz as a result of the petty benefits and cash rewards from the police. The entire case was based on the statements the two had made to investigators. Finally after three trials which ended with three convictions, Cruz was finally sentenced to death for, among other crimes, kidnapping, rape and murder.

The Exoneration: In September 1995, tests showed that DNA found at the crime scene couldn't have come from Cruz or from Hernandez, and that a man named Brian Dugan could not be eliminated as a suspect. Prior to Cruz being subjected to yet a another trial, a lieutenant in the sheriff's department recanted his testimony that had implicated Cruz in the first place. The cases were dismissed against both Hernandez and Cruz. Dugan had admitted to the crime, could not be tried because his confession, obtained during a plea bargain for other crimes, could not be used against him. Cruz served more than 10 years in prison.

JEFFREY PIERCE
The Crime: In 1986, an Oklahoma City woman returning to her apartment complex was sexually assaulted. The victim was not able to identify her attacker and could say only that she thought he had worn a tan shirt. Her apartment complex was using a landscaping crew that day and Pierce happened to be part of it and also just happened to be wearing a tan shirt that day. When he was placed in the photo lineup, the victim identified him. He was subsequently sentenced to 65 years in prison for rape and robbery.

The Exoneration: Hairs were found at the scene of the crime, and during the trial, a forensic expert testified that the hairs belonged to Pierce. In 2001 Project Innocence became involved and hairs were re-examined by FBI's forensic labs. They found that not only did they not belong to Pierce, but rather belonged to another convicted felon. After spending 15 years in prison, he said "I hope you all won't forget about them, too, because there are more," he said upon his release. He was referring to the others who had also been wrongly convicted. "I'm just the one that opened the door, and I feel there will be a lot more coming out behind me."

KEVIN BYRD
The Crime: A sleeping, pregnant woman was attacked and assaulted at knife point in her bed in 1985 in Texas. The victim gave police a detailed description of her attacker, including clothing, facial features, age and height. She said he was a white man whose skin was "a honey brown color." Four months later, the victim saw Byrd, who is black, at a grocery store and said he was the man who had raped her. Based solely on her identification, Byrd was finally sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of rape.

The Exoneration: When Byrd was tried in 1989 in Harris County, Texas, DNA testing was not admissible. He had served 12 years in prison before DNA found at the rape scene was proven to exclude Byrd. He was freed and pardoned by then Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 1997. That year, he told Larry King that he is not angry with the the victim who identified him falsely or the judge who convicted him. "I'm just not angry. I don't hold grudges," he said.