Imagine a person being wrongfully convicted of a crime they did not commit. There are multiple cases of people that have been wrongfully convicted. These people may receive exoneration due to the Innocence Project, an organization that dedicated its career to those wrongfully convicted. Phillip Bivens, Larry Ruffin, and Bobby Ray Dixon start the process of exoneration due to the crime committed, their involvement along with others, and what led to their wrongful conviction.
Phillip Bivens and two other men were convicted of the murder of Eva Gail Patterson on May 4, 1979. Eva was killed on a warm night by a man that broke into her house. In addition, reports found that Eva was raped and killed from a cut throat in front of her four-year-old
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Eva’s four-year-old son had witnessed that the man had broke into their house. The son consistently described that there was only one man that had raped and killed his mother (The National). The son was the only witness and testified that one man had committed the crime and yet there were three that were convicted. Also, Eva’s son was traumatized from the event he had witnessed. He told the police that a bad boy convicted the crime, which was a single man rape and killing (Robertson). The police had created a storyline about the man acting alone, but there were other suspects connected to the crime. The four-year-old son was not considered a reliable source because of his young age, hence, the three men convicted of the crime. There wasn’t much evidence to convict the men, so they were wrongfully …show more content…
Mr. Dixon’s stay at the prison was cut short due to medical conditions. He had been kicked in the head by a horse as a child and suffered from constant seizures (Robertson). Dixon’s lung cancer had spread to his brain and he was given medical parole, but still faced the charges for the crime. Lawyers of the Innocence Project had seen the frequency of false confessions and requested a rape kit. Semen was tested that was found on a shirt and results led to another man that has been investigated (Robertson). Just this one piece of evidence proved the innocence of the men. Dixon and Bivens ordered evidence to be presented to a grand jury. The men were officially exonerated when the Forrest County Grand Jury heard about the evidence and declined charges that were given (The National). Although, the exoneration was a success, Dixon and Ruffin didn’t live to enjoy their time out of prison. The three men were seen as people and not those that committed a crime after