Frequently Asked Questions

Multiple pieces of evidence point to Thomas's innocence:

• Thomas had a solid alibi placing him at home that night;

• The sole eyewitness identification was deeply flawed—the other victim identified a completely different person from the same lineup, but this was hidden from the jury;

• Ballistics testing revealed the murder weapons were used in other crimes by other people unaffiliated with Thomas Clardy.  One of those people matched the physical description of the shooter given by the witness (gold teeth with diamond cut-outs and tattoos) while Thomas Clardy does not.

Thomas was convicted based solely on a single, problematic cross-racial eyewitness identification. The jury never heard crucial evidence: his alibi testimony was excluded due to a procedural error, the ballistics evidence pointing to other perpetrators wasn't discovered until years later, and they were never told that the other victim identified someone else entirely. The case was also investigated by a detective with a proven history of perjury in previous wrongful convictions.

Since 2019, the Tennessee Innocence Project has helped nine people, just like Thomas, find freedom from wrongful incarceration. The Tennessee Innocence Project took up Thomas’ case because he is an innocent man who deserves his freedom.

Clemency is the Governor's constitutional power to grant mercy and correct injustices. Thomas is seeking both exoneration (based on his proven innocence) and commutation (to prevent further imprisonment while appeals continue). After 17 years wrongfully imprisoned, a federal judge ruled his conviction wrongful, but the state appealed and is forcing him back to prison. Clemency would return an innocent man back to his family and the freedom he deserves.

You can make an immediate impact by: signing the petition to Governor Lee, emailing the Governor's office directly through our action tool, sharing Thomas's story on social media, and donating to support his legal defense. Every voice matters—Governor Lee needs to hear from Tennessee citizens that justice demands Thomas remain free while fighting for exoneration. How Can I Help

On average, Tennessee taxpayers pay $40,000 annually per incarcerated person. LINK To pay to re-imprison an innocent man while the real perpetrators have walked free for years is not acceptable. Beyond the financial cost, Thomas has proven himself to be a productive, taxpaying citizen who mentors at-risk youth and contributes positively to his community. Wrongful convictions undermine our justice system and harm public safety by leaving actual criminals free to commit more crimes—which happened here.

The Tennessee Innocence Project continues to fight for Thomas. His wrongful conviction now continues through the appeals process while Thomas seeks clemency from Governor Lee. The Governor has the power to issue a decision at any time and immediately restore Thomas’s freedom.  Meanwhile, Thomas continues to maintain his innocence and work toward a full exoneration.

Public officials count community input—literally. The Tennessee Board of Parole lists “community support or opposition” among the factors it must weigh when deciding whether someone stays free or returns to prison; letters and statements are logged into every file the Board reviews. Likewise, the Governor’s office keeps tallies of calls, emails, and petition signatures that arrive on high-profile clemency cases. You can add your voice to the calls for Thomas’ freedom. When those numbers climb, decision-makers can see that ordinary voters—not just attorneys—are watching what happens. tn.gov

Recent campaigns show how quickly public pressure moves the needle: in Oklahoma, more than 6.3 million people signed a petition for Julius Jones; the Pardon & Parole Board cited that outpouring when it recommended clemency, and Governor Kevin Stitt commuted Jones’s death sentence days before his execution date. innocenceproject.orgoklahoma.gov

In Texas, a flood of calls, emails, and bipartisan letters from lawmakers helped win an eleventh-hour stay for Rodney Reed, sparing him from execution and reopening his case. vox.comtexastribune.org

Every message you send adds one more data point to those running tallies, amplifies media coverage, and signals to officials that the safest political choice is to correct an injustice rather than ignore it. Your voice, added to thousands of others, can be the margin that keeps Thomas Clardy home while the courts finish the job of clearing his name.

No one can pin down an exact “error rate,” but multiple large-scale studies show the problem is not as rare as we’d like:

• 4% of death-row convictions may involve an innocent person, according to a peer-reviewed analysis of every capital case since 1973 LINK: michigan.law.umich.edu.

• A 2018 survey of several state-prison systems estimated about 6% of all inmates were wrongfully convicted, with the percentage varying by type of crime LINK: innocenceproject.org.

• The National Registry of Exonerations has documented more than 3,500 individual exonerations since 1989, totaling over 30,000 years of freedom lost LINK: michigan.law.umich.edu.

Among the known wrongful-conviction cases, eyewitness misidentification (like in Thomas’ case) is the single most common cause:

• In DNA exonerations—the gold-standard group where guilt or innocence can be scientifically resolved—about two-thirds (63-69%) involved at least one mistaken eyewitness LINK: innocenceproject.orginnocenceproject.org.

• Hundreds of additional non-DNA exonerations also cite bad identifications, often stemming from cross-racial lineups, suggestive procedures, or the natural limits of human memory.

In short, wrongful convictions are not one-in-a-million flukes, and faulty eyewitness testimony is their leading engine—precisely the scenario that put Thomas Clardy behind bars