**MEDIA ALERT**
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 2015
FOR INTERVIEWS CONTACT:
Kathy Spillman, Witness to Innocence, 267.518.4583, 267-847-1482 (cell), kspillman@witnesstoinnocence.org
First Exonerated Death Row Survivor in the US, Post-1972 Furman SCOTUS Decision,
Passes Away; Dave Keaton of Florida Was Active Member of Witness To Innocence
July 6, 2015, Philadelphia, PA – Dave Keaton, the first death row exoneree in the US and the first death row
exoneree from the State of Florida, passed away suddenly at home in Quincy, Florida, on July 3. He was 63,
and is survived by his siblings Elise, Thawanna, Victor and Edwardo. Keaton was an active and beloved
member of Witness to Innocence, the nation’s only membership organization of exonerated death row survivors
and their loved ones, which he joined shortly after the organization’s founding in 2005.
WTI Executive Director Magdaleno Rose-Avila said, “Dave Keaton was the first death row exoneree to begin
speaking out against the death penalty. His false imprisonment and the life struggles he faced as an exoneree
demands that we abolish capital punishment.”
Dave Keaton was arrested in 1971 for the murder of an off-duty police officer at a Florida convenience store.
After three days of relentless interrogation – with threats, lies, and beatings – investigators coerced a confession
from him. Although details of the number of participants in the crime, the weapons used, and the location of the
“getaway car” differed sharply from the state’s evidence, an all-white jury convicted and sentenced Keaton to
death. He was 18 years old.
Once he was on death row, the case against Keaton quickly unraveled. Journalists revealed that the polygraph
operator in his case had a history of extracting false confessions from frightened suspects without lawyers.
Fingerprints from the scene and a tip from an informant led prosecutors to the real culprits, who were indicted
and later convicted for the murder.
Keaton was granted a new trial, but without the confession, there was not enough evidence to try him and the
charges were eventually dropped. Ultimately, he spent two years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, yet
received no compensation from the state for his wrongful conviction.
In addition to being the first man to be exonerated from death row in the United States, Keaton was an
outstanding poet and singer, giving performances across the country as a member of Witness to Innocence. His
story of being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death is immortalized in the motion picture and play, “The
Exonerated,” in which his story has been performed by renowned actor Danny Glover and countless others for
over a decade.
Witness to Innocence (WTI) is the only national organization in the United States composed of and led by exonerated death row
survivors and their family members. The mission of WTI is to abolish the death penalty by empowering exonerated death row
survivors and their loved ones to become effective leaders in the abolition movement. WTI actively challenges political leaders and
the public to grapple with the reality of a fatally flawed criminal justice system that sends innocent people to death row. WTI also
seeks ways to support death row survivors and their loved ones as they confront the challenges of life after exoneration. To learn
more, please visit our website or e-mail info@witnesstoinnocence.org.
###