Wrongful convictions: From death row to freedom

By Joseph Kenny | jkenny@archstl.org | twitter: @josephkenny2

Reggie Griffin, a Missouri death row exoneree, told the crowd about his story on May 20 at an event at the St. Louis Galleria Lush store. Griffin along with fellow exoneree, Joe Amrine, were both convicted of murders they did not commit and spent years on death row before being exonerated.

Joe Amrine selected the music for his funeral service.

He wasn't sick, nor was he elderly. He was on Missouri's death row awaiting lethal injection.

In November 2001, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon asked the Missouri Supreme Court to set an execution date for Amrine and nine other men on death row. The court complied in six cases, but delayed in Amrine's case. By then a groundswell of support built for his exoneration in part because of a documentary, "Unreasonable Doubt: the Joe Amrine Case," by a group of university graduate students.

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