Exonerated Inmate Freed After 25 Years

David Scott was freed from an Indiana prison today after spending 25 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. DNA evidence recently exonerated him from a 1984 Indiana murder and the same evidence pointed to Kevin Weeks in the crime, who is now in custody in Kentucky.

There are several aspects of this case that raise serious concerns about Indiana's system that sentences individuals to death:

• David Scott spent 25 years in prison before being cleared of his crime. The average time an inmate spends on Indiana's death row before being executed is about 10.5 years.
• DNA evidence allowed for Scott's exoneration and the incarceration of the actual murderer. However, the Innocence Project indicates that of the 126 death row exonerations nationally, DNA only played a role in 15 such cases. The point here is that not all that are falsely convicted have the benefit of DNA evidence being present at the crime scene to exonerate them.
• A large part of the case against Scott was his false confession to being part of the crime. While cases involving false confessions may seem rare and can be difficult to understand, false confessions have been present in over 25% of DNA exoneration cases.

This case is troubling enough on its own but also serves as a wake-up call to those who think that our system presently sufficiently protects innocents and can confidently carry out the irreversible punishment of death.