Playing With Fire
After 30 Years Insisting on His Innocence, Claude Garrett Is Free
Having twice convicted Garrett for setting a fatal fire in 1992, the Nashville DA’s office dropped the charges against him, facilitating his release.
Liliana Segura
Liliana Segura is an award-winning investigative journalist covering the U.S. criminal justice system, with a longtime focus on harsh sentencing, the death penalty, and wrongful convictions. She was previously an associate editor at the Nation Magazine, where she edited a number of award-winning stories and earned a 2014 Media for a Just Society Award for her writing on prison profiteering. While at The Intercept, Segura has received the Texas Gavel Award in 2016 and the 2017 Innocence Network Journalism Award for her investigations into convictions in Arizona and Ohio. In 2019 she was honored in the Abolitionist category of the Frederick Douglass 200, a recognition given by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University.
Segura has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, CNN International, Democracy Now!, and numerous other outlets. Her speaking engagements have included public interviews with authors such as Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post and Colorlines, and has been reprinted in outlets ranging from prison magazines to the anthologies "The Best American Legal Writing" and "Against Equality: Prisons Will Not Protect You.” She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Segura has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, CNN International, Democracy Now!, and numerous other outlets. Her speaking engagements have included public interviews with authors such as Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post and Colorlines, and has been reprinted in outlets ranging from prison magazines to the anthologies "The Best American Legal Writing" and "Against Equality: Prisons Will Not Protect You.” She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Playing With Fire
Claude Garrett Sees Murder by Arson Conviction Overturned
Thirty years after a fatal fire sent Garrett to prison for life, a judge vacated his conviction, opening the door to his release.
Melissa Lucio’s Life Was Spared at the Last Minute. What Happens Now?
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted Lucio’s execution and ordered her trial court to consider evidence of innocence.
As Execution Looms, Mounting Evidence Points to Melissa Lucio’s Innocence
Trial jurors, forensic experts, and Texas lawmakers push for Lucio’s life to be spared ahead of her April 27 execution.
Playing With Fire
Fire Scientists Testify in Support of Claude Garrett’s Bid for Freedom
At a hearing on April 5, Nashville prosecutors asked a judge to vacate Garrett's murder conviction for the 1992 fire that killed Lorie Lance.
A Bogus Bite Mark Sent Him to Prison for Murder. Alabama Wants to Keep Him There.
A famed forensic dentist recanted his testimony against Charles McCrory. He may die in prison anyway.
Is Texas Sending Melissa Lucio to Die for a Crime That Never Happened?
Lucio faces execution in April for killing her 2-year-old daughter. Experts say her conviction was based on faulty forensics.
Death and Dereliction
“Innocence Isn’t Enough”: Arizona Urges the Supreme Court to Send Barry Jones Back to Death Row
The case has far-reaching implications: Should new evidence be ignored by the federal courts even when it exposes a wrongful conviction?
Murderville
“When I Saw Him I Knew It Was Real”: Devonia Inman Is Free After 23 Years Behind Bars
Just over a month after a Georgia judge overturned his wrongful conviction, Inman was reunited with his family in time for Christmas.
Playing With Fire
Nashville DA’s Office Seeks to Vacate Claude Garrett’s 29-Year-Old Murder Conviction
A reinvestigation of the case “dismantles every single piece of evidence previously believed to inculpate Garrett,” the director of the DA’s Conviction Review Unit wrote.