INFORMATION
FROM DEATH
PENALTY INFORMATION CENTER http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/122Exoneration.pdf DEATH
PENALTY INFORMATION CENTER 1101
Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 701, Washington, DC 20005 Phone:
(202) 289-2275 4Fax:(202) 289-7336 4 Email:
dpic@deathpenaltyinfo.org
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: BRENDA BOWSER SODER
Wednesday,
November 16, 2005 office
(202) 289-2275, cell (301) 906-4460
HAROLD
WILSON IS 122nd DEATH ROW INMATE FREED
After
16 years, Pennsylvania Man Acquitted of All Charges
WASHINGTON,
DC – More than 16 years after a Pennsylvania jury returned three death sentences
against Harold Wilson, new DNA evidence has helped lead to his
acquittal. Yesterday, Wilson
became the nation’s 122nd person freed from death row according to the
Death Penalty Information
Center (DPIC). During his 1989 capital trial, Wilson was prosecuted by
former Philadelphia
Assistant District Attorney Jack McMahon, a man best known for his role
in a training
video that advised new Philadelphia prosecutors on how to use race in
selecting death penalty
juries.
“This
case is further evidence that the death penalty risks executing
innocent people,” said
Richard Dieter, DPIC Executive Director. “Fortunately, Wilson had the
advantage of DNA evidence
and expert lawyers the second time around. Otherwise, he might be dead
today. As the nation
faces the 1000th execution since the death penalty was reinstated, it
is imperative that this whole
process be re-evaluated.”
In
1999, Wilson’s death sentence was overturned when a trial court
determined that his defense
counsel had failed to investigate and present mitigating evidence
during his original trial. A
later appeal led the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to call for a new
hearing because of evidence that
McMahon used racially discriminatory practices in jury selection. In
2003, a trial court found
that McMahon had improperly exercised his peremptory strikes to
eliminate potential black
jurors and granted Wilson a new trial, a decision that the District
Attorney’s office did not appeal.
The court held that the death penalty could not be sought in his new
trial. The jury in this most
recent trial acquitted Wilson of all charges on November 15, 2005,
after new DNA evidence
revealed blood from the crime scene that did not come from Wilson or
any of the victims,
a finding suggesting the involvement of another assailant.
Wilson
is the second person to be freed from death row this year, and the sixth Pennsylvania
death row inmate to be freed since 1982. DPIC released a report in
October entitled “Blind
Justice” about the problems of the death penalty from the perspective
of jurors.
To
arrange an interview with DPIC’s executive director, please contact
Brenda Bowser Soder
at (202) 289-2275 or bbsoder@deathpenaltyinfo.org