2008 Woodie Awards
100th man exonerated from death row speaks out
Christina Goodlander
Issue date: 10/22/03 Section: News
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"You have to participate. You have to be a part of life," exonerated death row inmate Ray Krone told students. Last week, Krone spoke at Georgetown as part of Campaign to End the Death Penalty's Death Penalty Awareness Week.
Krone was released from a Phoenix, AZ prison on April 8, 2002 after ten years, eight months and three days in jail, three years of which were spent on death row. He is the 100th person to be proven innocent by DNA testing and freed from death row. Krone has dedicated his reclaimed life to educating Americans about the dangers of capital punishment and motivating young people to get involved in politics.
Krone emphasized that one in nine people sentenced to death are eventually proven innocent, and that this alone is an important reason to end executions. America prides itself on having a fair, effective justice system. If this is so, how is it that an innocent man like Krone found himself facing execution? His story reveals how ignorance of the law and pressure on both prosecutors and police can lead to fatal errors.
Krone grew up in a small town, and called his childhood normal. He joined the Air Force, which allowed him to travel all over the US. He was sent to Arizona, where he received an honorable discharge and settled into a job at the post office. There he enjoyed the stereotypical bachelor life, playing sports and taking his friends out on his power boat. However, this life came to an abrupt end one night in 1991 when a waitress in a bar that he frequented was murdered.
Police appeared at Krone's house the next day, saying they needed to take him "downtown" to ask him a few questions. Krone said he was not worried during the initial stages of his interrogation and trial, because he was innocence. "I thought the system worked," he said ruefully. However, there was a lot of pressure on the Phoenix police to solve the murder, and Krone happened to be a convenient scapegoat. Apparently, the waitress had told some friends that she liked Krone, and they inferred the two were dating, although this was not true. Krone said that the investigators tried to make him seem like a liar: "Everything started out with 'So you deny....'" Also, the police made him bite down hard on Styrofoam to create a dental impression. Although unsure what purpose this served, he complied.
Krone was released from a Phoenix, AZ prison on April 8, 2002 after ten years, eight months and three days in jail, three years of which were spent on death row. He is the 100th person to be proven innocent by DNA testing and freed from death row. Krone has dedicated his reclaimed life to educating Americans about the dangers of capital punishment and motivating young people to get involved in politics.
Krone emphasized that one in nine people sentenced to death are eventually proven innocent, and that this alone is an important reason to end executions. America prides itself on having a fair, effective justice system. If this is so, how is it that an innocent man like Krone found himself facing execution? His story reveals how ignorance of the law and pressure on both prosecutors and police can lead to fatal errors.
Krone grew up in a small town, and called his childhood normal. He joined the Air Force, which allowed him to travel all over the US. He was sent to Arizona, where he received an honorable discharge and settled into a job at the post office. There he enjoyed the stereotypical bachelor life, playing sports and taking his friends out on his power boat. However, this life came to an abrupt end one night in 1991 when a waitress in a bar that he frequented was murdered.
Police appeared at Krone's house the next day, saying they needed to take him "downtown" to ask him a few questions. Krone said he was not worried during the initial stages of his interrogation and trial, because he was innocence. "I thought the system worked," he said ruefully. However, there was a lot of pressure on the Phoenix police to solve the murder, and Krone happened to be a convenient scapegoat. Apparently, the waitress had told some friends that she liked Krone, and they inferred the two were dating, although this was not true. Krone said that the investigators tried to make him seem like a liar: "Everything started out with 'So you deny....'" Also, the police made him bite down hard on Styrofoam to create a dental impression. Although unsure what purpose this served, he complied.