Lavell Jones
(Paul Bukowski/Albany Times Union)
Case Details
Served: 18 years
Year of Exoneration: 2016
Year of Conviction: 1999
Sentence: 37 ½ to Life
Conviction: Murder
County: Albany
Lavell Jones was convicted of a 1997 Albany homicide he did not commit based solely on his false confession, obtained after more than 36 hours of interrogation, which he later recanted. No witnesses or physical evidence tied him to the crime. EXI began working on Lavell's case in 2011. In 2014, a man named Jeffrey Conrad was arrested in Ohio for an unrelated murder and confessed that he alone committed the murder for which Lavell and his codefendant, Carl Dukes, had been in prison for almost 19 years. Conrad knew details that only the true killer would know, and his confession is corroborated by information from the original police investigation into the homicide.
EXI filed a motion on behalf of Lavell based on newly discovered evidence, actual innocence, and police misconduct, and Carl's attorney followed with a motion on his behalf. The prosecution consented to vacate their convictions and dismiss the case based on newly discovered evidence, and on July 7, 2016, Lavell and Carl were finally exonerated and left the Albany County Courthouse as free men.
