Innocent Man Exonerated After 25 Years in Prison
Andre Hatchett was 24 years old when he was convicted of murdering a woman in a Brooklyn park. This week, he was exonerated and set free at the age of 49.
Hatchett, who reportedly had an IQ of 63, was convicted of the 1991 beating death of a woman in a park in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn—despite the fact that he was still on crutches after being shot the previous year. From the New York Times:
Though he cooperated with the police and provided an alibi, Mr. Hatchett was arrested and convicted almost entirely on the testimony of a career criminal named Gerard Williams, who said that he had seen, from 30 to 40 feet away, Mr. Hatchett striking a body on the ground in the park that night.
Mr. Williams offered the account after he was arrested in connection with a burglary a little over a week after the killing, and after having initially identified someone else as the killer — information the prosecutors never gave the defense, as was required.
The more we look, the more innocent people we find in prison.
