First exoneration from death row by DNA: Kirk Noble Bloodsworth FACT Figure 9: A photo of Kirk Bloodsworth who was the first person to be exonerated from death row by evidence of DNA. Figure 11: An excerpt from the newspaper article on the murder of Dawn Hamilton, showing a photo of her. Figure 13: A photograph from the day Kirk Bloodsworth was exonerated and released from prison on June 28, 1993. Based on information received from the Center of Wrongful Convictions (Anon., n.d.): Case Data Defendant: Kirk Nobel Bloodsworth Gender: Male Date of Birth: October 31, 1960 Race: Caucasian Jurisdiction: Baltimore County, Maryland Date of Crime: July 25, 1984 Age at Time of Crime: 23 Date of Arrest: August 7, 1984 Charge: Sexual Assault, Rape, and Premeditated Murder of First degree of a child Sentence: Death (first trial), life imprisonment (second trial) Release or exoneration date: June 28, 1993 Time frame (arrest to release): 3,247 days Victim(s): Dawn HamiltonNo. of victims: 1 Age of homicide victim: 9 Sex of victim: Female Race of victim: Caucasian Relationship between victim and defendant: None Criminal history of defendant: None Known factors that led to wrongful conviction: Five witnesses incorrect eyepieces, Junk science, omission of exculpatory evidence by the prosecution. Has an appellate court ever upheld the conviction? Yes, second conviction upheld, Bloodsworth v. State, 76 Md. App. 23 (1988). Acquitted by: Government pardon and DNA, which belatedly implicated the real killer. Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation: $300,000 Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Per Day: $92.39 A nine-year-old girl, Dawn Hamilton, was sexually assaulted, strangled, and beaten to death with a rock on July 25, 1984. At the time… . in the middle of the card...a condemned man. Since Kirk Bloodsworth was released, he has become an activist, spokesperson and supporter of the Innocence Protection Act (IPA) following its passage in February 2000. Bloodsworth is also the advocacy director of Witness to Innocence which will be the subject of a documentary involved in the appeal for the revocation of the death penalty in Maryland. The Kirk Bloodsworth case is a subject of the book Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA by Tim Junkin. Bloodsworth is also the subject of a documentary: Gregory Bayne's Bloodsworth: An Innocent Man. This case can be seen as a perfect example of the failure of the justice system due to several missteps that occurred during the investigation and trial and the biggest one being that Kimberly Shay Ruffner was overlooked as a suspect. (Hanes, 2004).