wheezer
02-20-2008, 03:54 AM
Former Death Row inmate to speak
EXONERATED BY DNA, HE NOW FIGHTS TO END DEATH PENALTY
By Greg Kocher
GKOCHER1@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Ray Krone says he is not bitter.
He spent 10 years in Arizona state prisons -- and nearly three of those on Death Row -- for a murder he didn't commit. Exonerated in 2002, Krone maintains that he has "pretty much" forgiven his accusers.
"I don't want that to control my life," Krone said. "The worst time should not be the most meaningful time in your life. You learn from it but you move on."
Moving on means speaking to schools, legislatures, Congress and even the United Nations about his experience, and why there should be a moratorium on executions. Krone will bring that message to Danville at 7 p.m. Thursday at Young Hall near the Centre College library.
In a telephone interview, Krone, 51, said it is difficult to convey to audiences what it is like to spend day after day in prison knowing that you are innocent.
"I sometimes compare it to when you were a kid and you were blamed for something your brother or sister did," Krone said. "You're outraged, you're disappointed, you're angry, you're frustrated. ... It weighs you down heavily, mentally. It's very forceful on your mind. Eventually, though, you learn just to live with it and try not to think about it.
"You're thankful for the letters, thankful that you get to talk to your folks, thankful to see the sun come up the next day. You just find little things to appreciate because everything else is so horrendous."
Since capital punishment was reinstated in the 1970s, 126 people have been exonerated after spending time on Death Row. Krone was No. 100.
Before his arrest in the slaying of Phoenix bar manager Kim Ancona, Krone acknowledges, he supported the death penalty.
"Now, from what I've seen from my inside experiences, it's not something I can trust the government to carry out in a fair and just manner," he said.
Krone was sentenced to death in 1992. He was granted a new trial but was convicted again, and was sentenced to life in prison. The judge in the second trial expressed doubts that Krone was the killer.
In 2002, through DNA evidence, Krone was exonerated and released from prison with all charges dropped. He had spent 10 years and four months behind bars.
It was later learned that, before the second trial, the prosecutor had been told by two dental forensic experts that there was no way the teeth marks on Ancona's body were made by Krone. The prosecutor did not inform the defense of this exculpatory information, but proceeded to seek the death penalty.
In April 2005, Krone received $1.4 million for wrongful conviction from Arizona's Maricopa County, and later was awarded $3 million by the city of Phoenix. The Arizona legislature publicly apologized to him in 2006.
Today Krone lives in Pennsylvania and is director of communication and training for Witness to Innocence, an organization that seeks a national moratorium on the death penalty.
Krone said an important step toward a moratorium could come if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that lethal injection violates the constitutional prohibition against "cruel and unusual" punishment -- as was argued in a Kentucky case heard last month.
Though a majority of Americans still support the death penalty, the Gallup Poll shows that support dropped from an all-time high of 80 percent in 1994 to 65 percent in 2006.
http://www.kentucky.com/454/story/323402.html
EXONERATED BY DNA, HE NOW FIGHTS TO END DEATH PENALTY
By Greg Kocher
GKOCHER1@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Ray Krone says he is not bitter.
He spent 10 years in Arizona state prisons -- and nearly three of those on Death Row -- for a murder he didn't commit. Exonerated in 2002, Krone maintains that he has "pretty much" forgiven his accusers.
"I don't want that to control my life," Krone said. "The worst time should not be the most meaningful time in your life. You learn from it but you move on."
Moving on means speaking to schools, legislatures, Congress and even the United Nations about his experience, and why there should be a moratorium on executions. Krone will bring that message to Danville at 7 p.m. Thursday at Young Hall near the Centre College library.
In a telephone interview, Krone, 51, said it is difficult to convey to audiences what it is like to spend day after day in prison knowing that you are innocent.
"I sometimes compare it to when you were a kid and you were blamed for something your brother or sister did," Krone said. "You're outraged, you're disappointed, you're angry, you're frustrated. ... It weighs you down heavily, mentally. It's very forceful on your mind. Eventually, though, you learn just to live with it and try not to think about it.
"You're thankful for the letters, thankful that you get to talk to your folks, thankful to see the sun come up the next day. You just find little things to appreciate because everything else is so horrendous."
Since capital punishment was reinstated in the 1970s, 126 people have been exonerated after spending time on Death Row. Krone was No. 100.
Before his arrest in the slaying of Phoenix bar manager Kim Ancona, Krone acknowledges, he supported the death penalty.
"Now, from what I've seen from my inside experiences, it's not something I can trust the government to carry out in a fair and just manner," he said.
Krone was sentenced to death in 1992. He was granted a new trial but was convicted again, and was sentenced to life in prison. The judge in the second trial expressed doubts that Krone was the killer.
In 2002, through DNA evidence, Krone was exonerated and released from prison with all charges dropped. He had spent 10 years and four months behind bars.
It was later learned that, before the second trial, the prosecutor had been told by two dental forensic experts that there was no way the teeth marks on Ancona's body were made by Krone. The prosecutor did not inform the defense of this exculpatory information, but proceeded to seek the death penalty.
In April 2005, Krone received $1.4 million for wrongful conviction from Arizona's Maricopa County, and later was awarded $3 million by the city of Phoenix. The Arizona legislature publicly apologized to him in 2006.
Today Krone lives in Pennsylvania and is director of communication and training for Witness to Innocence, an organization that seeks a national moratorium on the death penalty.
Krone said an important step toward a moratorium could come if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that lethal injection violates the constitutional prohibition against "cruel and unusual" punishment -- as was argued in a Kentucky case heard last month.
Though a majority of Americans still support the death penalty, the Gallup Poll shows that support dropped from an all-time high of 80 percent in 1994 to 65 percent in 2006.
http://www.kentucky.com/454/story/323402.html