They were once convicted of crimes they did not commit and given the most definitive and final sentence any defendant could ever face: death at the hands of the state. But, often after years on death row, they were proved innocent and exonerated by DNA testing.

This week marks the fifth anniversary of Douglas Warney’s exoneration in New York. Warney, who suffers from mental illness, falsely confessed to murder after a 12-hour police interrogation.

After nearly 10 years of wrongful imprisonment, Neil Miller has now been free for 11 years.

On May 1, 2006, Drew Whitley walked free after 16 years of wrongful imprisonment.

Julius Ruffin was wrongfully convicted of rape and sodomy in Virginia in 1982. He served 20 years before DNA tests proved his innocence and linked another man, already incarcerated, to the crime. This week marks the 8th year of his freedom.

Six years ago this week, Michael Anthony Williams was released from Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He had served over 23 years of a life sentence for a rape that post-conviction DNA testing proved he didn’t commit.

In 1991, Richard Johnson was arrested in connection to the rape and robbery of a University of Chicago graduate student. His conviction was overturned on March 8, 1996. He had spent four years in prison for a crime of which he was innocent

In 1988, Herman Atkins was convicted of the rape and robbery of a woman in the southern California shoe store where she worked. He was released from prison in February 2000. Having served 12 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Herman Atkins has been free 11 years this week.

In 1984, Eugene Henton received a four-year sentence for sexual assault in exchange for a guilty plea to the sexual assault of a woman in her Dallas County, TX, home. Henton was released on parole eighteen months after his conviction and sought DNA testing to prove his innocence.

Donte L. Booker was arrested in Ohio in 1987 in connection with an incident involving a toy gun. He served 15 years for a crime of which he was innocent.