Convicting the Innocent
Professor James R. Elkins College of Law
West Virginia University|Fall|2016|

Edward Lee Elmore

Book

Raymond Bonner, Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong (New York: Alford A. Knopf, 2012) [editor of Anatomy of Injustice talks about the book] [2:42 mins.]

Edward Lee Elmore obtained his release from prison after entering an “Alford plea” in 2013. In an “Alford plea,” the defendant concedes that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to proceed with the case but the accused does not admit to committing the crime. Elmore entered the plea in exchange for time served--over thirty years, twenty-eight on death row--in order to secure his release from prison.

Assigned Reading

When Innocence Isn't Enough
[Raymond Bonner, New York Times, March 2, 2012]

Edward Lee Elmore v. Jon Ozmint, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections; Henry McMaster, Attorney General, State of South Carolina (U.S. 4th Cir. Ct.App., 2011)

Brandon L. Garrett, The Banality of Wrongful Executions (Review Essay), 112 Mich. L. Rev. 979, 985-988 (2014)

Videos

Death Row Stories: Edward Lee Elmore
[1:25:53 mins.] [CNN series]

'Are they gonna kill me?'
[0:39 mins.]

Raymond Bonner: Anatomy of Injustice
[4:42 mins.]

Jonathan Segal on Editing Anatomy of Injustice by Raymond Bonner
[2:42 mins.]

Web Resources

Edward Lee Elmore Freed after Thirty Years
[Cornell Death Penalty Project]

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