HOUSTON (AP/WXMI) — A new report says a record 149 people falsely convicted of crimes were exonerated last year in the U.S.
The report released Wednesday by the National Registry of Exonerations says 2015 had 10 more exonerations than 2014, which had the previous highest total since the group began keeping records in 1989.
Texas had the most exonerations in 2015 with 54. New York was second with 17.
Michigan had one. Quentin Carter of Grand Rapids was convicted of rape in 1992 and spent 17 years in prison. In the cold case murder trial of Aurelias Marshall, investigators determined that Carter had been framed by Marshall for the crime. Carter was exonerated in June.
According to the report, a record 58 exonerated defendants had been convicted of homicide.
Illinois had the most number of homicide exonerations with 11, followed by New York with 9 and Alaska with 4.
The registry is a project of the University of Michigan Law Schooland has documented more than 1,730 such cases in the U.S.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
