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OHIO (USA): MICHAEL KEENAN FREED AFTER 24 YEARS ON DEATH ROW
September 6, 2012: Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Russo Dismisses All Charges and Frees Inmate Michael Keenan from Death Row.
Today Keenan, 62, white, was released from prison after spending 24 years on Ohio's death row. Keenan and co-defendant Joseph D'Ambrosio, who was exonerated on January 23, 2012, were convicted of the 1988 murder of Tony Klann. Keenan's first conviction was overturned in 1994, but he was retried and again sentenced to death. His second conviction was overturned earlier in 2012 due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Prosecutors withheld evidence that could have exonerated Keenan and D'Ambrosio, including police statements that discredited testimony from the only eyewitness to the crime and evidence that the man who led police to Keenan had a possible motive for killing the victim.
A Cuyahoga County judge dismissed all charges against Keenan and barred a re-trial, but the state may still appeal that decision. If today's decision is upheld, Keenan will likely be added to DPIC's Innocence List. Since 1973, 140 people have been exonerated and freed from death row.
Six of those exonerations have been from Ohio, including D'Ambrosio. (Source: OTSE, DPIC, 06/09/2012)
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