Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 5/5/02

101st Former Death Row Inmate Exonerated and Freed in Pennsylvania

Thomas H. Kimbell, Jr., became the 101st former death row inmate to be cleared of charges and freed since 1973.  Kimbell had been convicted and sentenced to death in 1998 for the murder of four members of a family in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania in 1994.  However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1998 because evidence which might have thrown doubt on his guilt was not admitted at trial.  Kimbell was acquitted of all charges at his re-trial on May 3. .  Kimbell is the 3rd former death row inmate to be freed this year and the 4th person in Pennsylvania since the death penalty was reinstated.