22 January 2017 :

Isaiah McCoy Exonerated from Delaware Death Row, the 157th Death Row Exoneration Since 1973. Isaiah McCoy, 29, Black, a former Delaware death row inmate, was exonerated on January 19, 2017, when Kent County Superior Court Judge Robert B. Young acquitted him at a retrial. He is the 157th person exonerated from death row in the United States, and the first in 2017. McCoy was convicted and sentenced to death on Oct. 11, 2012 (see), but the Delaware Supreme Court overturned his conviction on Jan. 20, 2015 (see) as a result of prosecutorial misconduct and ordered a new trial. The Court suspended Deputy Attorney General R. David Favata from practice because of his misconduct at McCoy's trial, which included belittling McCoy for choosing to represent himself, making intimidating comments during a break in proceedings, then lying to the judge about making the comments. McCoy waived his right to a jury for his retrial, leaving the decision in the hands of Judge Young. In acquitting McCoy, Judge Young noted that there was no physical evidence against him and that two alleged accomplices had given contradictory testimony. One of the accomplices, Deshaun White, received a sentence reduction for testifying against McCoy. Upon his release, McCoy said, "I just want to say to all those out there going through the same thing I'm going through 'keep faith, keep fighting. Two years ago, I was on death row. At 25, I was given a death sentence – and I am today alive and well and kicking and a free man." McCoy was the second former death row to be released in Delaware after obtaining a new trial for prosecutorial misconduct. Jermaine Wright was released on September 12, 2016 (see) after pleading no contest to lesser charges and being resentenced to time already served.