"We find the defendant guilty." Those five words have sent millions of Americans to prison. Although we'll never know for sure, some studies suggest that between 40,000 and 100,000 men and women are serving time for crimes they simply did not commit. And, even more ominously, for every person who is wrongly convicted, the real criminal remains at large. On Monday, November 12 at 9 PM E/P, Investigation Discovery brings these stories of injustice to light in the premiere of the six-part series, I DIDN'T DO IT.
Narrated by
Chris Noth, known for his work as a detective on Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and the State Attorney on The Good Wife, the new series on ID walks viewers through cases of mistaken identity, misinterpreted evidence, forced confessions and legal technicalities that sent innocent people to jail, and allow the guilty to roam free. I DIDN'T DO IT follows those who fight for their freedom, and prove their own innocence by bringing the real perpetrators to justice.
Not only do these systemic problems shatter the lives of those accused, but they wreak havoc on the witnesses, law-enforcement officers and attorneys in the system trying desperately to see that justice is served. Guilt-stricken to have played any part in sending the wrong person to prison, witnesses, detectives and prosecutors discuss the reasons they made these tragic mistakes, and how they've struggled to come to terms with what they've done.
"If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, if you've made the wrong enemies or even the wrong friends, you could find yourself in prison," said
Henry Schleiff, president and general manager of Investigation Discovery. "I DIDN'T DO IT explores the lives of those our justice system failed. While in the end, the truth may have set them free, it wasn't enough to keep them out of prison. This series honors the determination of those who fight for truth and justice, freeing the innocent and putting the real culprits behind bars."
Cases profiled include:
SHADOW OF DOUBT: Jennifer Thompson was 100% certain that Ronald Cotton, the man she picked out of a series of photos and then a lineup, was the man that had raped her. Cotton spent more than a decade behind bars before he recognized a new inmate from Thompson's original police sketch. With this new lead, Cotton's attorneys order DNA tests on Thompson's rape kit, which prove Cotton's innocence and the new inmate's guilt. In an inspiring endnote, Thompson and Cotton are now friends and allies, working together to campaign against flawed eyewitness testimony. Premieres Monday, November 12, 9 PM.
TWICE BITTEN: After the violent rape and murder of a bartender in Phoenix, Arizona, police quickly zeroed in on bar patron Ray Krone because they believed his misaligned teeth were a perfect match to bite marks on the victim. Dubbed "the snaggle-tooth killer," Krone spent 10 years in prison before a distant cousin who owned a dental software company came to his rescue. Premieres Monday, November 19, 9 PM.
SMOKING GUN: When six year old Brooke Sutton and her grandmother were beaten and sexually assaulted, Brooke alone survived, and told police that her assailant "looked like my Uncle Clarence." Although Clarence Elkins had no record and a solid alibi, police focused on him alone, and didn't test any physical evidence from the crime scene. But Clarence and his wife worked tirelessly to prove his innocence, and finally got the break they needed when a violent fellow prisoner who "looked like Clarence" left a cigarette butt in an ashtray. Premieres Monday, November 26, 9 PM.
FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE: The shocking murder of a 92 year old woman in Poughkeepsie demanded justice, and in a "sweetheart" plea deal, several informants claimed they saw Dewey Bozella at the scene of the crime. Despite the lack of any physical evidence linking him to the crime, Bozella was convicted and sent to Sing Sing, where he began boxing and became the jailhouse champion. After 26 years in prison, the Innocence Project investigated Bozella's case and found fingerprints that linked Bozella's case to a similar crime committed after Bozella was incarcerated. Premieres Monday, December 3, 9 PM.
BATTERED ON THE BEACH: After a gay man was beaten to death on Melbourne Beach, Florida, a witness gave police a bloodied shirt and a description of the suspect. The description bears a passing resemblance to local beach-goer
William Dillon. Then, both Dillon's girlfriend and a celebrated tracking dog handler linked him to the attack and he was convicted. But after 27 years in prison, the Innocence Project of Florida took up his case and tested the DNA on the bloody shirt, proving Dillon's innocence, and revealing the identity of the actual killers. Premieres Monday, December 10, 9 PM.
SEALED TO THE GRAVE: When an off-duty cop was killed and another injured during a brazen shooting in a Chicago McDonald's, police pulled out all the stops to find who did it. A witness pinned the crime on Alton Logan and despite his alibi, he was quickly convicted. But while in prison, Alton learned that the real killer had been caught and confessed the crime to his lawyers, but that attorney-client privilege prevented the truth from ever being heard. Premieres Monday, January 7, 8 PM.
I DIDN'T DO IT is produced for Investigation Discovery by Lively Family, Inc., with Leanna Crouch as executive producer and Trish Wood as supervising producer. For Investigation Discovery, Thomas Cutler is executive producer, Sara Kozak is vice president of production and
Henry Schleiff is president and general manager.
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