This Day in History April 25, 1989

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This day in 1989 saw a father who was wrongly convicted of murder walk free.  James Richardson of Arcadia, Florida was convicted of murdering his seven children (some were step-children) in 1968.  It was found that the rice and beans they ate was laced with poison.  It had happened as the neighbor was babysitting.  The neighbor, Reese, was never investigated.  The rice and beans had been allegedly prepared by the mother, and the father was investigated for the murder.

There was truly no evidence against Richardson, but there was a lot of prosecution misconduct.  He was sentenced the electric chair, but it later became life in prison.  Interestingly enough, Reese (the babysitter) later confessed to the crime, and Richardson's case was retried leading to acquittal.

This honestly amazes me.  These kinds of things still happen!  I can't imagine.  If you would like more information, please check out:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-father-is-exonerated-after-21-years
http://forejustice.org/db/location/Richardson--James-Joseph.html
http://justicedenied.org/arcadia.htm