Exoneration of Ron Keine: A Death Row Narrative

848 Words2 Pages

This interview was conducted by Professor Zalman and Ron Keine and is about Ron’s exoneration. Ron Keine was wrongfully convicted of the murder of a college student in Oklahoma. The duration of this case was full of corruption and ended in Ron being convicted and sentenced to death row. While being on death row, Ron thought he was going to die for a crime that he did not commit. There are so many aspects in this case, but to start the Detroit News conducted an investigation and what was uncovered was procedural misconduct. The coverage from the Detroit News was not enough for Keine and his friends to be allowed to go free, and they all remained on death row. Ron was released in 1976 after the murder weapon was found to be in possession of a …show more content…

Ron was in a biker gang in California; he had dropped out of school and left Detroit and ended up in California. Keine stated that the reason he went to Death Row was being affiliated with the gang and made the statement that it was as he was convicted of all the crimes of the gangs. Ron and the other exonerees were victims of the systems based on their mistreatment. Dr. Zalman expressed about wrongful convictions and said that some are made by honest errors and the inability to realize the mistakes to correct …show more content…

They had an alibi witness, a gas receipt, a ticket on the day of the murder. A police officer who would not come unless the judge subpoena him and the judge of course refused and would not pay the $650 to summon him. There were also two jailhouse snitches who lied about their testimony. The police misconduct was used in how they charged these individuals originally and how they have been accused initially with robbery, which later turned into murder. The police created the story and intimidated an eye witness who refused to testify and threatened to charge her with the murder if she refused. The attorneys told a moving tale and Ron Keine and company ended up being convicted. This case was before DNA testing but what exonerated these individuals was the actual murder confessing to the crimes. The entire case seemed like a fluke and malicious attack on these people. A guy in Carolina, confessed to all charges and had an epiphany and told the police where the weapon was located and how everything happened and how he dragged the body. He had to fight to get the police to accept his confession because the police were acting as if they already had their

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