Ray Krone Research Paper

The sun glared down on Ray Krone as he walked away from prison, still looking over his shoulder in Yuma, Ariz. It’s 2002, and Krone was just exonerated with the help of DNA evidence over 10 years after being convicted of a crime.

Krone is from a small agricultural town in York County, Pennsylvania where he grew up playing games like kick-the-can and hide-and-go-seek. As a youngster, Krone attended a Lutheran Church that had summer camp every year. Krone always looked forward to swimming and reading bible passages; here, he formed life-long friendships.

“I remember going hunting with my dad, and taking little brother for his first time hunting. We had to walk across a makeshift wooden bridge and my little brother, 12 years old didn’t want

Nonetheless, it was later found out that the odontologist (forensic dental specialist) who trained this expert said, ”that there is no way his teeth could have matched marks left on the victim’s body.”

Krone maintained his innocence through the trial and thought that the police were out searching for the real killer.

“How could you show remorse for a crime you didn’t commit?” said Krone.

Four years later, in 1996, with the help of his cousin, Jim Rix, Krone was granted an appeal for a new trial. During the retrial, DNA evidence was discovered on Kim’s body that did not match the victim’s or Krone’s DNA. Krone felt that he’d win this case for sure. Even in light of this new evidence, Krone was found guilty, again.

“I remember the judge saying, this case was going to haunt him for the rest of his life, because it was hard for him to believe that a person like [Krone] was on trial for a murder that [Krone] did not commit. [Krone] was about to be sentenced for something [Krone] didn’t do, He had lingering and residual doubt that his guilt, and he sentenced him to 25 years to life.” Krone said.

Krone went on to serve six more years in prison before finally being exonerated based on saliva and blood DNA evidence that matched the true culprit, Kenneth