INVESTIGATIVE CASE DOSSIER: THE KIRK BLOODSWORTH CASE: THE FIRST U.S. DEATH ROW INMATE EXONERATED BY DNA IN 1993
- Exonerated Individual: Kirk Noble Bloodsworth (Former U.S. Marine and Watermelon Farmer)
- Historic Distinction: First death row prisoner in United States history exonerated by post-conviction DNA
- Wrongful Conviction: 1984 murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton in Rosedale, Baltimore County, Maryland
- True Perpetrator: Kimberly Shay Ruffner (Inmate who had been in the prison cell block below Bloodsworth)
- Exoneration Date: June 28, 1993 (Full pardon granted in December 1993)
- Legislative Legacy: The Innocence Protection Act & Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program
In 1985, 24-year-old former Marine Kirk Bloodsworth was sentenced to death in Maryland for the tragic murder of nine-year-old Dawn Hamilton, based entirely on mistaken eyewitness identifications. Bloodsworth spent nearly nine years behind bars—including two years on death row—relentlessly proclaiming his innocence. In 1993, pioneering forensic biologist Dr. Edward Blake used early PCR DNA testing to prove that semen on the victim’s underwear could not have come from Bloodsworth. The Kirk Bloodsworth case made legal history as the first U.S. death row DNA exoneration, paving the way for the modern innocence movement.
The 1984 Crime and Mistaken Identification
On July 25, 1984, 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton was murdered in a wooded area in Rosedale, Maryland. Based on an eyewitness composite sketch of a tall man with reddish hair, an anonymous tip led police to Bloodsworth, who had no criminal record.
Despite zero physical evidence linking him to the scene, five eyewitnesses identified Bloodsworth in court, and he was sentenced to die in the gas chamber.
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