TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - Dave Keaton, the first person exonerated from death row in the United States was laid to rest over the weekend.
Keaton was only 18 years old when he was accused of killing an off-duty police officer at a Florida convenience store in 1971.
After 3 days of interrogation with threats, lies, and beatings investigators coerced a confession out of Keaton. Despite the confession varying from state evidence, an all white jury convicted and sentenced Keaton to death.
In a new trial journalists revealed that the polygraph operator had a history of extracting false confessions and the charges were dropped. Keaton spent 2 years behind bars on his death row sentence. He died on July 3rd, 2015 at 63 years old.
