Kirk Bloodsworth, the first death row inmate to be exonerated based on DNA testing, will be honored at NCIP’s eighth annual Justice for All awards dinner on March 12, 2015. In 1984, Bloodsworth was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a young girl near Baltimore, Maryland. He subsequently served almost 9 years in prison— two of those years on death row. While Bloodsworth was facing execution in the early 1990s, he learned about DNA testing and its ability to prove his innocence. With the help from his attorney and supporters, the prosecution agreed to DNA testing of the evidence from Bloodsworth’s case. The testing results excluded Bloodsworth and matched the DNA of the actual perpetrator, Kimberly Shay Ruffner. Bloodsworth was officially exonerated in 1993.
Since his exoneration, Bloodsworth has become an influential voice for the wrongfully convicted on multiple fronts. He inspired the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program, created by Congress in 2004, to help defray the costs of DNA testing for those innocent people who still remain incarcerated.
Register for the 2015 Justice for All awards dinner here!
Read more about Kirk Bloodsworth’s exoneration and other advocacy efforts here.
