Off death row, man shares experiences

March 07, 2012

A York County, Pa., man who was wrongly convicted of murder is now off death row and Monday night he talked about his experience with the students of Albright College.

Ray Krone spent a decade in prison and when he was released he said maybe it's not about the 10 years he lost but what he does with the next 10 years.

"I'm just thankful they didn't execute me before I had a chance and my family had a chance to bring me home again," said Krone.

Ray Krone said prior to being convicted in 1992 for murdering a bar manager in Phoenix, Ariz., he didn't have a criminal record and never questioned the criminal justice system.

"We don't have any problems with the police. We believe in our justice system," said Krone, "Somebody got arrested, good they got the person who did it."

But his experience changed that way of thinking.

"Only two days after the body was found I was arrested," said Krone, "The allegation of the police was I was a boyfriend, that I denied associating with her to cover up my guilt. And they noticed there was a mark on the body, they seen that I had crooked teeth, my teeth matched that bite mark so they arrested me and built a case afterwards."

And now he tells his story wherever he can.  At the time of his arrest he was out of the Air Force and was working and living as a postal carrier in Arizona.

He said his strength for those 10 years, three months and eight days came from his family in Pennsylvania.

"Years later the DNA was found and we actually got the person that did it," said Krone.

Monday night he had two messages for students listening-- whatever you believe, fight for change and find the strength you need to do it.

"There are a lot of situations in the criminal justice system where these type of injustices occur," said Albright College junior Brittany Willard, "and I hope that I can change that at some point, even if it's for one person."

Krone now works for Witness to Innocence, a group made up of exonerated death row survivors.

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