Illinois Death Penalty Exonerations
In the quarter century between restoration of the Illinois death penalty and Governor George Ryan's blanket clemency order, 298 men and women were sentenced to death in Illinois. Of those, 18 have been exonerated — a rate of 6%, the highest exoneration rate of the 38 states with death penalties on their books.
Following the names in parenthesis are the year of arrest and year of exoneration.
Read their stories:
Joseph Burrows (1988, 1994)
Perry Cobb (1977, 1986)
Rolando Cruz (1983, 1995)
Gary Gauger (1994, 1996)
Alejandro Hernandez (1983, 1995)
Madison Hobley (1987, 2003)
Stanley Howard (1984, 2003)
Verneal Jimerson (1985, 1996)
Ronald Jones (1985, 1999)
Carl Lawson (1989, 1996)
Steven Manning (1990, 2000)
Lloyd Eldon Miller, Jr. (1995, 1971)
Leroy Orange (1984, 2003)
Aaron Patterson (1986, 2003)
Anthony Porter (1982, 1999)
Steven Smith (1985, 1999)
Gordon Steidl (1987, 2004)
Darby Tillis (1977, 1986)
Dennis Williams (1978, 1996)
