12 May 2017 :

A unanimous Florida Supreme Court has vacated the convictions and death sentences imposed on Ralph Daniel Wright, Jr. for two counts of murder, finding that the evidence was insufficient to convict. The  former Air Force sergeant on death row for the murders of an ex-girlfriend and their son will be set free after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that there was no physical evidence to convict him and that prosecutors failed to look at others who may have had a motive to kill them. "There is no fingerprint, footprint, blood, fiber, pattern impression, or other physical evidence tying Wright to the crime scene. There is no cell tower evidence placing him in the vicinity of the crime scene. There are no inculpatory statements. There is no murder weapon," the court wrote. "The only evidence presented by the State to prove that Wright was the murderer is the fact that he had motive and opportunity." According to Nat Kidder, one of the attorneys who handled the initial criminal case, next the state will have 15 days to file for a rehearing, which the supreme court would accept or deny. After that, the Pinellas Circuit Court has to vacate the conviction before he can be released. Wright is the 159th person exonerated from death row in the U.S. since 1973, and the 27th in Florida.