MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE
IN POTENTIALLY CAPITAL CASES (1987)
by Hugo Adam Bedau and Michael L. Radelet

Excerpt from Appendix A: Catalogue of Defendants

SEATON, TERRY (black). 1973. New Mexico. Seaton was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. His conviction was affirmed on appeal.1 In 1979, a state district judge ruled the conviction was based on perjured testimony given by another person in exchange for a lighter sentence on other charges. Evidence also indicated that the state had suppressed the confession of a third person. A new trial was ordered, the prosecution dropped the charges, and Seaton was released after serving six and a half years in prison. In 1983 a federal court jury awarded Seaton $118,000 in damages from the county, the sheriff, and a deputy; this decision was not appealed.2 The state also paid an attorneys’ fees award of $217,500.3

Footnotes

1. State v. Seaton, 86 N.M. 498, 525 P.2d 858 (1974).

2. Seaton v. Eddy County, No. 81-0286 (D.N.M. Jan. 18, 1983).

3. See generally Curley, Terry Seaton: Did Justice Misfire?, Albuquerque J., Aug. 28, 1979, Magazine, at 6-11, 21-23; Albuquerque J., Jan. 14, 1983, at 1, col. 2; id., Dec. 26, 1982, at 16, col. 1.