Ray Krone

Ray Krone (born January 19, 1957) is an American who was wrongfully convicted of murder. He was the 100th inmate exonerated from death row since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.[1]

Krone was born and raised in Dover Township, York County, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Dover Area High School in 1974.[2][3]

He was labeled the "Snaggletooth Killer" (a feature which has since been corrected) and spent 10 years in prison, including two years on death row, after being found guilty of killing a Phoenix, Arizona, bartender in 1991.[4] 35-year-old Kim Ancona was found dead in a bar where Krone often played darts. The 1992 conviction, which was upheld on appeal in 1996, hinged on expert testimony, included claiming an impression of Krone's teeth matched bite marks found on the victim's body, a detail that was disputed in court by dental experts called by the defense in court.

On April 8, 2002, Krone was released from prison after DNA evidence proved that he did not murder the victim, and also identified the real killer: Kenneth Phillips, a repeatedly violent sexual offender. Journalist Robert Nelson later wrote that ample crime scene evidence and interviews should have excluded Krone as a suspect and also pointed towards Phillips, but this data ignored by the police and the prosecution's purported experts.[1] In 2005, Krone received a settlement of $1.4 million from Maricopa County, and $3 million from the city of Phoenix.[5]

Since Krone's release, he has become an activist working for the abolition of the death penalty, and is Director of Membership and Training for Witness to Innocence. In February 2005, he was featured in episodes 13 and 14 of the third season of the reality television show Extreme Makeover. His story is detailed in Jingle Jangle: The Perfect Crime Turned Inside Out, written by his cousin, Jim Rix, who was instrumental in getting him out of prison.

See also

Notes
  1. Nelson, Robert (April 21, 2005). "About Face". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  2. Brambila, Nicole C. (April 19, 2015). "Former death row inmate eager to share message". Reading Eagle. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  3. Curtis, Jamie (April 8, 2010). "Exonerated Death Row Inmate Tells His Chilling Story". Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  4. "Exonerated 'snaggletooth killer' gets extreme makeover". ABC News. Reuters. November 20, 2004. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  5. "Southwest: Arizona: $3 Million For Exoneration". The New York Times. September 29, 2005. Retrieved October 15, 2014.

References
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