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A specific case in a wrongful conviction occurred in Fairview, North Carolina in September of 2001. Walter Bowman was shot to death and killed in his home after three men broke into his house. Bowman suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen and died before the response team was able to get him to the hospital. The three men in question were African American and wore bandanas over their faces while committing the crime. The victim was shot through his bedroom door after briefly opening it while the alleged robbery was taking place. After shooting Bowman all three perpetrators fled the scene of the crime.
There were three witnesses to the crime and all of them gave statements to the police. The police believed Bowman’s son Shaun was a drug dealer, and that the murder was meant to be a drug robbery that had resulted in the murder of Walter Bowman.
Through a tip line police received the names of a group of people who could have committed the crime. The names the caller provided to the police were Robert Rutherford, Bradford Summey and Lacy “J.J.” Pickens. However, the Sheriff’s department noted that Pickens had in fact, been in police custody at the time of the murder. This lead the police to not to investigate the rest of the claim. However, if they had looked closer they would have realized that although Pickens was listed as an inmate at the Buncombe County Jail, he was only in the jail on the weekends and free for work release during the week.
Through the same tip line police received another list of names. These six men, Robert Wilcoxson , Kenneth Kagonyera, Damian Mills, Teddy Isbell, Larry Williams and Aaron Brewton, were eventually arrested and charged with the crime. When the police first started to interrogate the suspect...

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...o as being when the suspects came to the connivance store. This could have very well shown the identities of the suspects. The tape was obtained by the sheriff’s department the day after the crime occurred. The short clip of the show was found to be aired the same day the detectives turned the tape over for evidence.
In the end they could not determine when the tape over had occurred. Although the identities were gone the tape did shows images of the car in question. It turned out to be a 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme the same make and model owned Pickens.
On September 23, 2011, Kagonyera and Wilcoxson were both determined to be innocent by a panel of judges in Buncombe County. Both of the men were released from jail mere hours after the decision was reached. In 2012 Robert Wilcoxson was compensated for his wrongful conviction and subsequently prison sentence.

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