Kirk Bloodsworth

Kirk Noble Bloodsworth was the first American sentenced to death row who was exonerated by DNA fingerprinting. He was convicted of murder for the 1984 rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Rosedale, Maryland, and then, in 1993, he was set free after DNA testing proved him innocent. Kirk spent almost nine years in prison, two of which were on death row. DNA evidence also identified the real killer, Kimberly Ruffner, but not until 2003 when prisoner DNA was added to the database. A month after the 1984 murder, Ruffner had been sentenced to 45 years for burglary, attempted rape and assault with intent to murder, and was incarcerated in a cell one floor below Bloodworth's own cell.

Bloodsworth is now an advocate for criminal justice reform, and is the subject of the book "Bloodsworth: the True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA" by Tim Junkin.

ee also

* List of exonerated death row inmates

External links

* [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LAW/06/20/bloodsworth.profile/ CNN.com's profile of Kirk Bloodsworth]
* [http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_2000/tows_past_20000928_b.jhtml Kirk Bloodsworth on the "Oprah Winfrey Show"]
* [http://innocenceproject.org/Content/54.php Kirk Bloodsworth at the Innocence Project]
* [http://www.truthinjustice.org/bloodsworth.htm Article on the 2003 capture of the real killer, at TruthInJustice.org]