Skip to content
Overturned

Nick Yarris

Year
2003
Where
Pennsylvania
Source
Wikipedia
Evidence
1
Image published by Wikipedia for Nick Yarris
Image via Wikipedia
What the record says

Nicholas James Yarris (born May 18, 1961) is an American writer and storyteller who spent 22 years on death row in Pennsylvania after being wrongfully convicted of rape and murder. Yarris was exonerated by DNA testing in 2003. He was released from prison in 2004 after a separate 30-year sentence he received in Florida for lesser crimes committed after he escaped from custody in 1985 was reduced to time served.

Summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Records change. The source is the authority.

Where to start

Got ten minutes? Do one of these.

What evidence was the conviction built on, and what has changed since trial?

  • Write down what the conviction rested on: eyewitness, confession, forensics, informant.
  • Find the court opinion and read what changed after trial.
  • Look for other cases with the same detective, lab or prosecutor.

New to this? Read the field guide. Five short lessons.