Exoneration Roundup

Florida Today features a story on a jailhouse snitch, due to be released from prison, whose tall tales may have caused the execution of an innocent person; another unlucky cellmate who allegedly confessed was later cleared by DNA.  In Kentucky, a day case sex abuse conviction was reversed and the charges dismissed based on manufactured evidence; scathing but unpublished opinion here.  An Arizona man sentenced to death primarily based on bitemark evidence proffered by the same dentist/legislator whose erroneous testimony convicted Ray Krone will have a hearing on his claim of innocence.   The Winston Salem Journal has a five part series on a brutal attempted murder case in which, they suggest, the wrong person was convicted.  A Missouri man incarcerated since 1987 hopes that a DNA test now being performed by Cellmark will clear him of a rape conviction.  Kansas authorities are seeking DNA samples from police officers who worked on an unsolved series of murders between 1974 and 1986; the alleged reason is that if and when the killer is captured, it will "head off potential legal maneuvers"; sounds more like they are looking for a suspect.  North Carolina reports a backlog in DNA testing. [Jack Chin]