| First Name | Kenneth |
| Last Name | Waters |
| Year of Conviction | 1983 |
| Year of Exoneration | 2001 |
| State of Conviction | Massachusetts |
| Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Trial |
| Type of Crime | Rape and Murder |
| Death Sentence | No |
| Life / LWOP sentence | Life |
| Gender of Exoneree | Male |
| Race of exoneree | White |
| Juvenile | No |
| Type of Innocence Defense |
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| Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense | ● Co-worker testified in support of the alibi. Defendant was in district court at the time of the murder. |
| Types of evidence at trial |
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| Type of Forensic Evidence |
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| Types of Flawed Forensics |
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| Brief Quote / Description of Testimony | In the grand jury, the police testified that there were no usable fingerprints from the murder scene. In fact, the prints were usable and other suspects were cleared on the basis of prints. The latent fingerprint analyst cleared Waters as well, but the exclusion was not shared with the prosecutor or the defense. |
| Jailhouse informant, Co-defendant, Incentivized Witness | IW |
| Examples of Non-Public or Corroborated Facts and Inconsistencies | ● Non-public facts included in alleged admissions to exgirlfriends regarding victim and how murder took place |
| Quotes from testimony #3 | “Q. What did he tell you about this murder? A. He told me he killed her. Q. ‘Did he give you any further description of who, ‘her,’ was? A. Well, he referred to her as an old German bitch. Q. Did he tell you anything more particular about the murder? How he did it? A. Stabbed her. Q. Did he tell you anything else about the murder? A. That he took money and jewelry.” Second informant testified: “Q. What did he say? A. —a German lady that went in the diner quite a bit and had a lot of money in her trailer because she was going back to Germany. Q. Did he tell you anything else about the money? A. That he’d like to get it.” “A. I asked him if he killed that woman back there. Q. What did he say? A. Yeah, what’s it to you?’’ |
| Highest level reached | Appeal |
| Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction |
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| Citations to judicial opinions | Commonwealth v. Waters, 506 N.E.2d 859 (Mass. 1987) |