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"A new report out this week from NBC estimates 2,000 people have been sent to prison over the past twenty years, for crimes they didn't commit. That's exactly what happened to a local man, who served four years before finally being freed, and able to come home to Panama City. Johnathon Montgomery finds simple joy in taking a walk his mom, Mishia. His quiet life was taken away in an instant back in 2007. "I was working a double at Flapjacks" says Montgomery, as he remembers the day everything changed. "I came home to my mom's house, we were living on Missouri Avenue at that point, and I got a knock on the door. Lynn Haven police arrested me, said they had a warrant out for my arrest." The police told him he was wanted for a crime in Virginia, which took Montgomery by surprise. "I didn't know what was going on." says Montgomery. "Virginia? I hadn't lived in Virginia for years!" Montgomery was arrested for rape. He thought it must be a mix up, or a case of mistaken identity. He went to Virginia to clear his name. "That's when it all fell apart," he says."

Edgar Coker Original Article02/12/2014By Susan Svrluga A Stafford County judge has ordered a Virginia man's name removed from the state's sex offender registry and his conviction vacated after the court ruled that he received ineffective counse...

The most common question about false convictions is also the simplest: How many are there? The answer, unfortunately, is almost always the same and always disappointing: We don't know. Recently, however, we have learned enough to be able to qualify our ignorance in two important respects. We can put a lower bound on the frequency of false convictions among death sentences in the United States since 1973, and we have some early indications of the rate of false convictions for rape in Virginia in the 1970s and early 1980s. These new sources of information suggest - tentatively - that the rate of false convictions for serious violent felonies in the United States may be somewhere in the range from 1% to 5%. Beyond that - for less serious crimes and for other countries - our ignorance is untouched.

Frank Lee Smith died of cancer on death row, just months before DNA exonerated him of raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl in Fort Lauderdale. Now, more than 13 years later, his family's civil lawsuit against the Broward Sheriff's Office and two detectives accused of framing him has finally been settled. Smith's death made him a national symbol because it was the first case in the U.S. that scientifically proved an innocent man had died in prison for a crime he didn't commit. But the financial settlement reached with the Sheriff's Office - on behalf of the agency and retired detectives Richard Scheff and Philip Amabile - is much less than the millions awarded in Broward's other notorious wrongful conviction cases. The civil suit was recently settled for just $340,000 - including attorney fees and legal costs, lawyers Michael Wrubel and James Green told the Sun Sentinel. They filed the lawsuit on behalf of Smith's closest surviving relative, his half-sister Virginia Smith, of Sunrise.

Only 10 On Your Side questioned Hampton's top cop about evidence that put an innocent man behind bars. Commonwealth's Attorney Anton Bell did not hold the office when a jury convicted Johnathon Montgomery of sexual assault, but explained the case in an exclusive interview with WAVY.com Wednesday. Elizabeth Coast originally testified Montgomery raped her when she was 10 years old and he was 14, but later admitted she made up the story. Montgomery spent four years in prison before Coast's confession.

HAMPTON -- The woman who was at the center of the case of a wrongly-convicted man was in Hampton District Court Tuesday on a perjury charge. Elizabeth Coast waived her right to a preliminary trial for felony perjury charges. It will now go to the Grand Jury to be certified for trial. Coast recanted her sexual assault allegation against Johnathon Montgomery, saying she lied at the 2008 trial to avoid scrutiny by her parents after she was caught looking for sexually explicit websites. Governor Bob McDonnell issued a conditional pardon for Montgomery in November, 2012 and ordered his immediate release from the prison. Montgomery spent 4 years in Greensville Correctional Center after being wrongfully convicted.

HAMPTON - A woman who falsely accused a Hampton man of sex crimes pleaded guilty Tuesday morning. Elizabeth Coast faces up to 10 years in prison for perjury when she's sentenced on August 19. During her the trial in June 2008, she said Johnathon Montgomery forced her to perform oral sex. He was convicted and sent to prison. He was released just before Thanksgiving 2012 after more than four years behind bars after Coast admitted she lied to avoid scrutiny by her parents after she was caught looking for sexually explicit websites. Governor Bob McDonnell issued a conditional pardon for Montgomery and ordered his immediate release. The prosecution said Coast confessed to a police officer friend that she lied and added the she and Montgomery had never done anything.

Fairfax County Police said a woman who made the charges of a sexual assault in Reston last February was charged with making a false police report. The 32-year-old woman, whose name was not released by police, had said she was walking on Pinecrest Road near the Laurel Glade Apartments about 11:20 p.m. on Feb. 25 when she was grabbed from behind, thrown into a Plymouth van, driven several blocks away and sexually assaulted by two men.