Amazing grace: James Woodard on 60 Minutes
05/02/08 01:40 PM
James Woodard of Dallas, freed from prison this week after serving 27 years on a wrongful conviction of murdering his girlfriend, tells his story to the nation on this Sunday's 60 Minutes.
Woodard is interviewed by Scott Pelley, who worked for KXAS-TV (Channel 5) and then WFAA-TV (Channel 8) before joining CBS news in 1989. Asked why he didn't plead guilty as a means of showing remorse and getting paroled, Woodard tells Pelley, "I wasn't guilty. I mean, a man has to stand for something."
Woodard was freed on the basis of DNA evidence that showed he could not have committed the crime. Dallas county district attorney Craig Watkins has spearheaded such efforts in partnership with the Innocence Project of Texas. Woodard, 55, had been the longest-serving, falsely convicted inmate ever to be released with the help of DNA evidence.
Here's an excerpt from the 60 Minutes interview:
Ed Bark
Woodard is interviewed by Scott Pelley, who worked for KXAS-TV (Channel 5) and then WFAA-TV (Channel 8) before joining CBS news in 1989. Asked why he didn't plead guilty as a means of showing remorse and getting paroled, Woodard tells Pelley, "I wasn't guilty. I mean, a man has to stand for something."
Woodard was freed on the basis of DNA evidence that showed he could not have committed the crime. Dallas county district attorney Craig Watkins has spearheaded such efforts in partnership with the Innocence Project of Texas. Woodard, 55, had been the longest-serving, falsely convicted inmate ever to be released with the help of DNA evidence.
Here's an excerpt from the 60 Minutes interview:
Ed Bark