Actual innocence

Definition

A claim that a convicted person did not actually commit the crime for which they were convicted. The Supreme Court has never definitively ruled whether a freestanding claim of actual innocence—unaccompanied by a separate constitutional violation—can provide a basis for federal habeas relief.

Examples

• •Justice Kavanaugh asked where a prisoner with a freestanding actual innocence claim based on new evidence can go for relief, and the government conceded the answer may be only the clemency process.

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