Name Joseph Burrows | ||
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Born October 5, 1953 ( 1953-10-05 ) Died October 15, 2009, Homer, Illinois, United States | ||
Joseph H. Burrows (October 5, 1953 – October 15, 2009) was wrongly convicted of the murder of farmer William E. Dulin, 88, at his home in Iroquois County, Illinois. He was held for nearly five years on death row before being released after his attorney Kathleen Zellner persuaded the real killer to confess at the post-conviction hearing, and Peter Rooney, a reporter for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, obtained a recantation from a key witness.
Contents
Conviction
Burrows was sentenced to death on August 1, 1989 for the first-degree murder of William Dulin after two trials. The first trial ended in a hung jury, but was convicted in the second. His conviction and death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1992.
Later life
Burrows was bitter over his wrongful conviction and struggled with life out of prison. In 1995, only a year after his exoneration and release, he was sentenced to six years in prison for the possession of chemicals he allegedly used in the production of methamphetamine. He was released in 2008 with day-for-day good time.
Death
Burrows died in Homer, Illinois on October 15, 2009.