MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP) announced Thursday it accomplished its first Memphis exoneration for a man who served more than 20 years in prison.
After his conviction was overturned in December 2023, Artis Whitehead was released from prison after 20 years.
Whitehead was arrested Jan. 31, 2003, in a robbery in 2002 at B.B. King’s Blues Club on Beale Street. In November 2003, a Shelby County convicted him of five counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of especially aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of attempted robbery. He was sentenced to consecutive sentences totaling 249 years.
Two decades later, Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Jennifer Fitzgerald vacated Whitehead’s conviction, finding he was entitled to relief on multiple legal grounds, according to TIP.
He was released from prison in December 2023 with all charges dismissed.
The Shelby County District Attorney General's Office said the Justice Review Unit looked into the case.
"Among other things, this review revealed that of the 7 victims, only 2 were ever able to identify Whitehead, and 1 of the 2 has since recanted; that multiple witnesses described a suspect that was substantially different in build and height from the defendant; and that police deceptively passed off as an anonymous Crimestoppers tip information that actually came from a confidential informant seeking to gain leniency from police on his own charges, someone who had previously been found by a federal judge in a different case to have provided false information for such leniency.
After the JRU conceded in court that the conviction was fatally flawed, the court granted Whitehead a new trial. Following the efforts of the TN Innocence Project, a judge granted Whitehead a new trial. Subsequently, the DA’s Office decided not to pursue a retrial and instead dismissed all charges against Mr. Whitehead on Wednesday."
TIP said Whitehead is the sixth state-wide exoneration and the first for Memphis.
“We are grateful that the Shelby County District Attorney’s office reviewed the facts of this case and elected to dismiss the charges giving Mr. Whitehead a second chance,” said Tennessee Innocence Project Executive Director and Lead Counsel Jessica Van Dyke. “TIP has been working on this case for the last four years because we believed in Mr. Whitehead’s innocence, and we appreciate the DA’s Office's diligent investigation and attention to detail. They got to the bottom of this case and ensured that justice was served appropriately for Mr. Whitehead and his family.”
To learn more about the Tennessee Innocence Project, visit www.tninnocence.org.