Biography
Jerry Frank Townsend was imprisoned in Florida for nearly 22 years after convictions based on false confessions. DNA evidence led to the convictions being set aside in 2001, and he was released on June 16, 2001.
Police arrested Townsend in Miami on September 5, 1979. He was subsequently convicted of murders and a sexual assault in cases in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Townsend had an intellectual disability, and his confessions became the central evidence against him.
DNA testing excluded Townsend and implicated another man. His Broward convictions were set aside in April and May 2001; his remaining Miami-Dade convictions were vacated on June 15. He left prison the following day. A later federal appeals court opinion confirmed the DNA exoneration and the setting aside of convictions in both counties.
