Kirk Bloodsworth

Kirk Bloodsworth case was the first capital conviction to be overturned in the United States as a result of DNA testing. A former Marine with no criminal record, Bloodsworth was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in Maryland in 1984 for a rape and murder he did not commit. He spent nearly 9 years in prison before DNA testing proved his innocence in 1993. It took another 10 years before the Maryland State's Attorney announced that a DNA match had identified the actual perpetrator of the crime. That person pled guilty to the murder for which Bloodsworth had been wrongfully convicted.

Today, Bloodsworth is the Program Officer for The Justice Project, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C. that address unfairness and inaccuracy in the American criminal justice system. The Justice Project develops and coordinates national and state-based campaigns involving public education, litigation and legislation to reform the criminal justice system, with a particular focus on capital punishment. Bloodsworth and The Justice Project led a five-year campaign to pass the Innocence Protection Act in the U.S. Congress. The Bill, which established the "Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program" was signed into law in October 2004.

The dramatic story of Bloodsworth's 20-year journey is chronicled in a book by Tim Junkin, Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA.