Randall Dale Adams (1949 – October 30, 2010) was wrongly convicted of murdering police officer Robert W. Wood, and was subsequently sentenced to death. He served more than 12 years in prison, at one point coming within 72 hours of being put to death. His death sentence was reduced through appeal to the United States Supreme Court, and eight years later he was released when evidence was uncovered to prove his innocence through the Errol Morris documentary The Thin Blue Line.
In 1989, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Ex parte Adams (768 S.W.2d 281) overturned Adams' conviction on the grounds of malfeasance by the prosecutor Douglas D. Mulder and perjurious inconsistencies in the testimony of another key witness, Emily Miller. The appeals court found that prosecutor Mulder withheld a statement by Emily Miller to the police that cast doubt on her credibility, and allowed her to give perjured testimony. Further, the court found that after Adams' attorney discovered the statement late in Adams' trial, Mulder falsely told the court that he did not know the witness' whereabouts. The case remained in limbo. In 1981, Mulder returned to practice private law in Dallas, and the new prosecution then dropped charges in 1989. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said, and Adams agreed, that "conviction was unfair mainly because of prosecutor Doug Mulder."
Adams' ordeal began in November 1976 when he moved to Dallas to find work.
On Nov. 27, his car ran out of gas, and he hitched a ride with 16-year-old David Harris, who had an extensive criminal record and was driving a stolen car.
The two spent the day together, drinking beer and smoking marijuana and ended up at a drive-in theater, where they eventually parted.
Early the next morning, Dallas police officer Robert W. Wood was shot and killed after stopping a car for a traffic violation. The investigation led to Harris, who named Adams as the killer. Adams, who had no prior criminal record, was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to death.
Within three days of execution in May 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out his death sentence over an error in jury selection. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
The Texas appeals court ordered a new trial, but the Dallas district attorney's office declined to file new charges, and Adams was freed in 1989.
At a legislative hearing, Adams said:
“The man you see before you is here by the grace of God. The fact that it took 12 and a half years and a movie to prove my innocence should scare the hell out of everyone in this room and, if it doesn’t, then that scares the hell out of me."
He died on October 30, 2010, but was not discovered until his attorney made a house-call.
He is survived by two sisters and a wife, the sister of a death-row inmate.
(Sources: Dallas Morning News, Wiki, Kansas City Star, Dr. Rick Worland - SMU)
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