This play/movie is presented as if six innocents were sent to death row because of corruption within the system.
 
The reality is that there are 5  cases for guilt and one that is a maybe.
 
Please review the following articles. Reviews of each case are further below.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/theater/newsandfeatures/27pros.htm
 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-24-exonerated_x.htm

http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.asp?ref=/comment/marquis200501270742.asp
 
The Exonerated is a true story just as CATS and The Lion King are.

1) Robert Earl Hayes  Nothing about Hayes’ retrial changes the appeals court’s original observation that evidence existed to establish Hayes’ guilt.  Hayes has now been convicted of a nearly identical murder in New York, which was committed prior to the murder in Florida.
Go to

no. 74 at http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/DPIC.htm
and pages 36-39 at http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/Publications/innocentsproject.pdf
 
2) Sunny Jacobs — After the shooting, still at the scene of the murders, a trooper asked Jacobs: “Do you like shooting troopers?” Jacobs response:  “We had to.” 

There is no evidence to support a claim of innocence for Jacobs in the murder of two police officers in Florida. She eventually pled guilty to two counts of second degree murder and was released for time served, after 16 years. Hardly a finding of innocence.     go to pages 40-46 at http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/Publications/innocentsproject.pdf
 
3) David Keaton —  Keaton’s defense attorney stated that even without Keaton’s numerous confessions, that the eyewitness testimony was likely sufficient to convict Keaton for the capital murder. 

Through the testimony of numerous eyewitnesses, Keaton’s numerous confessions, as well as those of co-defendants, Keaton was sentenced to death. There is no credible claim for innocence in this case of robbery/murder. The case was overturned on appeal. The prosecution chose not to re prosecute for a number of good reasons  —  1. he was no longer subject to the death penalty, because of changes in the law 2. Keaton was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a robbery that he committed ten days prior to the robbery/murder for which he was sentenced to death and 3. illness of witnesses.

Keaton was sentenced to death in 1971, under the old death penalty law. He was on death row for 13 months when the US Supreme Court overturned all death penalty cases in Furman v Georgia.

Read pages 60-68 at http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/Publications/innocentsproject.pdf

 4) Delbert Tibbs — The Florida Supreme Court candidly conceded that it should not have reversed Tibbs’ conviction since the evidence was legally sufficient.

The state prosecutor who chose not to retry Tibbs  recently explained to the Florida Commission on Capital Crimes that Tibbs “was never an innocent man wrongfully accused. He was a lucky human being. He was guilty, he was lucky and now he is free.”  
See no.10 at http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/DPIC.htm
and pages 134-138 at http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/Publications/innocentsproject.pdf

5) Kerry Max Cook — The judge, in accepting Cook’s no contest plea, said that Cook was guilty of the crime and that the state was capable of proving its case.

This is not a DNA exoneration case.

Mr. Cook was convicted of the murder of Linda Jo Edwards, who was found in her apartment on June 10, 1977, beaten on the head with a plaster statue, stabbed in the throat, chest and back and sexually mutilated. Mr. Cook was arrested 2 months later where he worked as a bartender in Port Arthur. Officers said they found Mr. Cook’s fingerprint on Ms. Edwards’ apartment door. At first he denied knowing Ms. Edwards. Cook lied. He later said they met at the apartment complex’s swimming pool and he went to her apartment. His original conviction resulting in a death sentence was overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct. A 1992 retrial ended in a hung jury. He was again convicted and sentenced to death in 1994. That verdict was overturned in 1996. Before a 4th trial, Mr. Cook pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of murder. He was sentenced to 20 years time served. Mr. Cook took the deal so he could avoid a possible return to death row. By taking the plea, both Cook and his attorneys conceded that this is hardly a case where there is no evidence for guilt and certainly not a case with confirmable actual innocence.

 6) Gary Gauger — Gauger confessed to the murder of his parents. That confession was thrown out based upon the lack of probable cause to arrest him. Gauger’s ex-wife and children filed a wrongful death suit against Gauger in the murder of his parents. Gary’s brother remains so convinced of Gary’s guilt in the murders of their parents, that he has prepared a review of the case which claims to support Gary’s guilt, even though there are now two other people jailed for the murders.
 
Furthermore, the trial court erroneously imposed a death sentence. The court granted a motion for reconsideration and vacated the sentence less than ten months later in September 1994. The trial court found that it had not considered all the mitigating evidence and concluded that Gauger should not be sentenced to death. People v. Bull, 705 N.E.2d 824, 843 (Ill. 1999); Chicago Tribune (9/23/94). Gauger served a brief time on death row. He was not properly sentenced to death by the trial court. He should never have been sent to death row because the trial court did not finally sentence him to be executed. Gauger’s case is an example of how consideration of mitigating evidence under current law results in a sentence less than death.
see no. 69 at www.prodeathpenalty.com/DPIC.htm

 An Anti-death penalty effort
It appears that the Soros Foundation, through their Open Society Institute (OSI) is the primary benefactor of  “The Exonerated” . The Soros Foundation finances anti death penalty efforts, worldwide.

“The Exonerated—a new documentary play produced by The Culture Project a grantee of OSI’s Criminal Justice Initiative and Arts Initiative—focuses on the stories of six innocent men and women who spent years on death row before being set free thanks to new evidence and emerging DNA technology.”
from http://sorosny.org/crime/

 
Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters
e-mail  sharpjfa@aol.com,  713-622-5491,
Houston, Texas
 
Mr. Sharp has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC, NPR, PBS, BBC and many other TV and radio networks, on such programs as Nightline, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, The O’Reilly Factor, etc., has been quoted in newspapers throughout the world and is a published author.
 
A former opponent of capital punishment, he has written and granted interviews about, testified on and debated the subject of the death penalty, extensively and internationally.
 
Pro death penalty sites
www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DPinformation.htm
www.dpinfo.com/
www.prodeathpenalty.com
http://www.prodeathpenalty.org/
http://w1.15
5.telia.com/~u15525046/ny_sida_1.htm
www.wesleylowe.com/cp.html
www.vuac.org/capital

My focus has been on violent crime issues and what can be done, within the criminal justice and legislative systems, to lessen injury to the innocent and to prosecute the guilty.  To accomplish that goal, involvement in community education, elections, legislation, victim’s rights issues, including assistance in individual cases are all important.