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Man wrongfully convicted of Union Parish murder dies in poverty

Angola State Penitenti
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Angola State Penitentiary

Michael Graham Jr, a death row survivor who was exonerated after serving 14 years for a crime he didn't commit, passed away in poverty last week in Virginia. Graham and Albert Burrell were wrongly convicted of murdering a Union Parish Couple in 1986 and sentenced to death but prosecutors later acknowledged the case should never have been brought to a grand jury. Later DNA proved that blood found in the victims’ home was not Graham’s or Burrell’s.

He was released from prison with $10 and a bus ticket and was denied compensation for his wrongful incarceration. A fund has been set up to support his family with final expenses and to assist other wrongfully convicted individuals who have been denied compensation.