| First Name | Terrill |
| Last Name | Swift |
| Year of Conviction | 1998 |
| Year of Exoneration | 2012 |
| Testing inculpated culprit | Cold Hit |
| State of Conviction | Illinois |
| Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Bench Trial |
| Type of Crime | Rape and Murder |
| Death Sentence | No |
| Gender of Exoneree | Male |
| Race of exoneree | White |
| Juvenile | Yes |
| Types of evidence at trial |
|
| Were non-public facts alleged? | Yes |
| Type of Forensic Evidence |
|
| Types of Flawed Forensics |
|
| Examples of Non-Public or Corroborated Facts and Inconsistencies | ● Location of mop and shovel and description of each. ● Shovel was three or four feet long, with a green metal spade and a brown wood handle. ● Victims shirt and pants were ripped. ● Victim’s body wrapped in a white sheet and left in an alley ● Victim’s injuries, and specifically that she was strangled, with foam coming out of her mouth, after being hit in the head/face, consistent with the medical examiner’s testimony. BUT – DNA did not match defendants. Neither mop nor shovel were described as being broken, but both objects found near scene in pieces |
| Quotes from prosecution arguments | “You will see from the physical evidence, from the medical examiner that the confession is corroborated by the injuries that this victim suffered.” “This confession is certainly corroborated by that. The fact that she is bit by a shovel. If you take a look at the shovel that’s recovered, it’s consistent with that.” And – “look at the details of this confession… You have to make a judgment call of someone’s credibility based on all of the evidence that this defendant was not fed these details.” |
| Interrogation Recorded | Written and signed confession statement |
| Highest level reached | NR |