David Keaton

David Keaton was sentenced to death in Florida in July of 1971, after he was convicted of killing a police officer during an armed robbery. His conviction was based on a coerced false confession. He was exonerated in 1973, but was not released until 1979 after the actual killer was identified and convicted. Keaton is one of the main characters portrayed in the Off-Broadway play, The Exonerated.

Learn More

The Innocence Project
Exonerated prisoners like Keaton could not have been identified without the work of people committed to uncovering wrongful convictions. The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic and criminal justice resource center that works to exonerate the wrongfully convicted through postconviction DNA testing and develop and implement reforms to prevent wrongful convictions.

The Exonerated
The Exonerated is a powerful play that dramatizes the experiences of several wrongfully convicted death row inmates, features a rotating cast including Harry Belafonte, Richard Dreyfuss, Mia Farrow, Jeff Goldblum, and Susan Sarandon, among others. The play features the stories of Gary Gauger and David Keaton who are both in Deadline. It ended it's New York run in March 2004 but is still being performed around the country. The book is also availble for purchase.

Read more about Florida in our state by state map.