The most recent (eighty-fourth) person to be freed...

The most recent (eighty-fourth) person to be freed from death row in the U.S. because of innocence was Alfred Rivera, who was acquitted at his retrial in North Carolina. A total of 8 such people have been released in the U.S. in 1999 alone.On December 17, Wendell Flowers was granted clemency by Governor Jim Hunt, shortly before his scheduled execution. The Governor expressed doubts about the degree of Flowers' involvement in a murder that occurred in prison. Other co-defendants, who may have been more responsible than Flowers, received lesser sentences. This was the fifth clemency in the U.S. in 1999. Orange County, North Carolina, became the first county in the U.S. to call for a moratorium on the death penalty, citing the dangers of mistaken executions. The towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and the City of Durham also passed moratorium resolutions in 1999.