BREAKING: Danny Davis Exonerated After Nearly 33 Years

CAIRO, IL: In 1992, Danny Davis was just 20 years old when he was wrongly arrested for a robbery and murder he did not commit. He and his then-17-year-old brother Isaac were coerced into giving false confessions. Danny was physically abused and threatened with the death penalty. Ultimately, he and his brother confessed and soon thereafter pled guilty to avoid a death sentence. No other evidence tied them to the crime.

Neither of their confessions fit the evidence and a judge deemed them unreliable while acquitting a third co-defendant at a bench trial. Still, Danny’s conviction remained intact, and he was sentenced to life without parole. 

Decades later, post-conviction DNA testing on the victim’s fingernails identified a male DNA profile and excluded Danny, Isaac, and their co-defendant. Extensive investigation also uncovered alternate suspects and witness statements that were not previously disclosed.

Last November, after an evidentiary hearing raising the new evidence of Danny’s innocence, the Court vacated Danny’s conviction and granted him a new trial.

The Court ordered Danny to be released immediately after spending 32 years wrongly imprisoned. Though out of prison, Danny continued to live with the weight of the original charges as prosecutors appealed the Court’s ruling. Yesterday, a year to the date of Danny walking out of prison after the conviction was vacated, the State moved to dismiss all charges.

“Today is a long time coming for Danny. He fought for decades to prove his innocence, and now he is finally free. Though he lost decades of his life to this wrongful conviction, he is hopeful for the future and looking forward to spending time with his family and finding meaningful work,” said Lauren Myerscough-Mueller of the Exoneration Project, one of Danny’s attorneys.

Danny Davis is represented by attorneys Lauren Myerscough-Mueller and Karl Leonard of the Exoneration Project, Maria de Arteaga and Lauren Kaeseberg of the Illinois Innocence Project, and Vanessa Potkin of the Innocence Project.

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