Guilty Until Proven Innocent

By David A. Graham

The only thing the public loves more than a good true-crime story is a good exoneration: the tale of a noble hero who proclaims his or her innocence in the face of accusations, suffers punishment, and is then miraculously cleared of the charges. The latest such turnaround came Aug. 4, when President Obama cleared the name of the late John D. Lavelle (above), a Vietnam-era general who was stripped of two stars and forced to retire when he was blamed for actions President Richard Nixon had ordered. There's more on Lavelle and 10 other victims of justice gone wrong in our selective history of exoneration.