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Overturned

Wilmington Ten

Year
1971
Where
North Carolina
Source
Wikipedia
Evidence
1
Image published by Wikipedia for Wilmington Ten
Image via Wikipedia
What the record says

The Wilmington Ten were nine young men and a woman who were wrongfully convicted in 1971 in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, of arson and conspiracy. Most were sentenced to 29 years in prison, and all ten served nearly a decade in jail before an appeal won their release. The case became an international cause célèbre, in which many critics of the city and state characterized the activists as political…

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

Where to start

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

  • Write down what the conviction rested on: eyewitness, confession, forensics, informant.
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  • Look for other cases with the same detective, lab or prosecutor.

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