Non-IPNO exonerees
Albert Burrell
Years transpired between initial arrest and exoneration - 14
Causes of Wrongful Conviction - Eyewitness With Incentive to Prove Guilt; Ineffective Assistance of Counsel; Prosecutorial/Police Misconduct
Release Date - January 3, 2001
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Albert Burrell and his co-defendant Michael Graham were wrongfully convicted of murdering an elderly couple in Union Parish, Louisiana in 1987. They were represented by two lawyers who had no previous capital trial experience. No physical evidence linked them to the crime and their convictions were based on three witnesses whom, unbeknownst to the jury, had personal motives to testify against them. One of the witnesses was Mr. Burrell's former wife who testified primarily to get custody of their child. |
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Mr. Burrell and Mr. Graham were sentenced to death and spent 13 of the 14 years they were imprisoned on death row. Mr. Burrell came within 17 days of execution before winning a stay in 1996. The prosecutor privately said he felt the case was so weak that it should have never been tried in the first place. Years after the convictions, all three witnesses recanted their trial testimonies, and the prosecutor who tried the case testified in court that he was pressured by the Union Parish district attorney to prosecute Mr. Burrell and Mr. Graham in order not to embarrass the recently elected sheriff. |
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Ultimately, the charges in the case, were dismissed because the prosecutors withheld key information from the defense. The attorney general’s office citied “a lack of credible evidence” and stated “prosecutors would deem it a breach of ethics to proceed to trial.” Mr. Burrell was released on January 3, 2001, a few days after Mr. Graham. |
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