Roger Keith Coleman was convicted and sentenced under the death penalty. He and his supporters claimed that he was innocent and claimed that DNA evidence would exonerate him. In fact, he was a poster-child for anti-death penalty folks way back in 1992. Well, it turns out that Time and the anti-death penalty advocates shouldn't have picked Coleman to be the poster-child for their story and pegged their hopes on Coleman's case turning the tide against the death penalty. DNA evidence produced in the case conclusively showed that Coleman was properly and correctly convicted of raping and killing his 19-year-old sister-in-law. The guy was as guilty as they come despite his protestations to the contrary.
That's not to say that DNA evidence can't exonerate those who have been convicted of crimes. The Innocence Project in New York City is one such group that looks at various criminal cases around the country and helps get tests and other evidence examined that might show that the defendants were improperly convicted.
It was started by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck (of OJ Simpson case fame). They've got some statistics on their site, but they can be selective in the kinds of cases they get involved with.
Of those cases that they've taken, reversals have come mostly because of mistaken identifications, followed by false confessions, informants/snitches, and microscopic hair comparison matches. Only three cases out of 130 were wrongful convictions based on DNA evidence wrongfully included at trial. DNA evidence brought forth by the Innocence Project was used to exonerate those defendants.
However, some perspective should be maintained.
DNA exonerations occur every year, but account for only 15-20 cases per year over the past five years. By the same token, many people are convicted every year based on DNA evidence. In some cases, DNA evidence may be the sole link to the crime scene. Indeed, quite a few people who have contested their convictions and demanded DNA testing have turned out to be guilty based on the DNA results. This has even happened in a number of cases where the Innocence Project was involved - forcing the Project to withdraw from the cases.
The DNA doesn't lie.
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