skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Innocent on Death Row

play audio
Play

Monday, September 25, 2017   

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – An innocent man who spent 10 years behind bars in Arizona, including three on death row, brings his story to Kentucky this week – one of the 31 states where execution remains legal.

In 2002, Ray Krone became the 100th person in the United States to be exonerated from death row since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

That number is now up to 159 – cases Krone says prove the system is flawed and that's why Kentucky needs to make life without the possibility of parole the maximum sentence.

"I supported the death penalty,” he relates. “I thought it worked. I thought it was fair and just.

“But my experiences have showed, definitely not. To stay strong and to continue to fight a system that just overwhelms you with their power and the money, you're very fortunate to ever have the opportunity to prove you're innocent."

Six years ago, an American Bar Association report found Kentucky's death penalty system was so broken there should be a moratorium until it could be "repaired."

Krone is co-founder of the Witness to Innocence project – a movement led by death row survivors who advocate for abolition.

Krone will speak in Pikeville on Tuesday night, in London on Wednesday afternoon and in Grayson on Thursday evening.

Wrongly convicted of murder in 1992, DNA evidence was used to prove Krone innocent. He says his conviction was based on "junk science" and prosecutorial misconduct.

In Kentucky, those who support the death penalty, including lawmakers who refuse to change the law, often say it's a deterrent to crime.

Krone disagrees.

"It certainly isn't a deterrent,” he counters. “They've proven that the states with the highest death penalties have the higher murder rates. People need to really now stop and consider that this act of vengeance, that it's not a viable solution to our problems."

There are currently 32 men and one woman on death row in Kentucky, a state that carried out its last execution nine years ago.

The real killer in the Arizona murder for which Krone was wrongfully convicted now is behind bars after striking a plea deal to avoid death row.







get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021