Paul Henderson (journalist)
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Paul Henderson III (January 13, 1939 – December 7, 2018) was an American journalist and private investigator.[1] In both roles, he helped win the freedom of 14 wrongfully convicted people, with nearly all being murder cases. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 1982 as a reporter for The Seattle Times.[2]
Henderson was born in
Henderson began his career as a journalist at the
Titus explained to Henderson that he was about to be sentenced for a sexual assault he did not commit. Henderson looked into the case and wrote a series of three stories entitled "One Man's Battle to Clear His Name, a story of rape, wrongful conviction and vindication," challenging the circumstantial evidence against Titus.[3] When officials followed up on Henderson's leads, they found a man who resembled Titus and who eventually confessed to the crime.[3] The report convinced a judge to reverse Titus' conviction.
Henderson won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for his series.[2] Titus died of a heart attack at age 36, just as he was on the verge of winning a major wrongful-conviction settlement.
Motivated by his experience with the Titus case, Henderson left the Seattle Times in 1985 to become a private investigator. Since 1988, Henderson had been an investigator for
In addition to winning the Pulitzer, Henderson is also the winner of the C.B. Blethan Award (1977 and 1982), the Roy W. Howard Newspaper Award,
Henderson died on December 7, 2018, at the age of 79[4] from lung cancer.[1]
References
- ^ a b c "Paul Henderson, Pulitzer Prize-winning Seattle Times reporter who championed the underdog, dies at 79". The Seattle Times. December 13, 2018. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
- ^ a b The Pulitzer Prizes. "1982 Pulitzer Prize Prizes". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ a b "The Seattle Times: Local news: Steve Titus Case". special.seattletimes.com. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ "Paul Henderson, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, dies". AP NEWS. 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
Further reading
- Predator: Rape, Madness, and Injustice in Seattle, ISBN 0-385-29935-4, Jack Olsen, 1991