The Tennessee Innocence Project (TIP) has successfully overturned their first Memphis conviction.
According to the TIP, Artis Whitehead’s conviction was overturned in December 2023, and all charges against him have been dropped. The group said this marks the first Memphis exoneration for TIP, and the sixth statewide.
Whitehead was arrested in January of 2003 for a 2002 robbery at B.B. King’s Blues Club on Beale Street.
“On January 24, 2003, over eight months after the crime occurred, a Crime Stoppers tip named Artis Whitehead as the perpetrator,” said TIP. “MPD contacted five witnesses — only those who were employees of B.B. King’s at the time of the incident — to view a new photo array containing Mr. Whitehead’s photo. Of these five people, two could not make an identification and one was never shown the array.”
TIP added that Whitehead was arrested after a “single eyewitness identification in a photo lineup.”
A jury convicted Whitehead 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. Whitehead was sentenced to a total of 249 years.
TIP said he was wrongfully convicted of the crime, and was exonerated 21 years from the exact day he was arrested.
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Jennifer Fitzgerald found that “Whitehead was entitled to relief on multiple legal grounds.” TIP added that Fitzgerald issued a 93-page written order vacating Whitehead’s conviction.
“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.”