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Hi everyone, still a work in progress, but incredibly topical. Please contribute! Also, need help disambiguating from the movie star! Needs sections describing his lung cancer diagnosis and settlement dispute with the state~~Birkwad~~ — Preceding undated comment added 20:49, 15 April 2015
Not a biography, and future development hopes[edit]
In the same manner that "Murder of Foo" contains the necessary biographical details of Foo's life to set the events of the murder into context, this article contains necessary biographical details, too. The gentleman is alive, and the policy on BLP applies, but the article is not a biography. It is about the events more than the gentleman. FiddleFaddle 16:44, 24 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I hope also that in the future the article may expand on the social determinants that led to his conviction and long stay in prison. It would be a disservice to simply say "this man was convicted and exonerated." Once more in-depth news and publications are released (and they are forthcoming, we will have more holes to fill in the greater understanding, and into the greater context that wikipedia can provide Birkwad (talk) 23:28, 24 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
As long as WP:SYNTH does not rear its head, I agree with you. This type of article presents an ever present temptation to synthesise conclusions from established facts, and that would prejudice its ability to remain without challenge. FiddleFaddle 23:32, 24 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
There is an obvious temptation to place this article in biographical categories, such as for date of birth. Common practice in other articles of this nature has been to avoid such categories on the basis that those are the preserve of a biography. We have avoided them scrupulously in "Suicide of Foo" articles, for example. When they creep in they are removed. Regrettably, there is often an argument about that when we should be concerning ourselves with the article rather than the categories.
Yes, the gentleman has a birth date in the article. To be fair, it is probably not relevant, except that it does illustrate his age today and thus the effect that the events have (probably) had upon him. It illustrates the proportion of his life spent on death row rather than being a particularly relevant fact for the article. Indeed, the year of his birth alone would be quite sufficient for that purpose. FiddleFaddle 06:36, 25 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I'd like to suggest the following categories, let me know if they encroach too much on the realm of biography. I understand they may not all fit now but possibly with crowdsourced info they may fit later:
People acquitted of murder
Criminal justice ethics
Overturned convictions in the United States (116 P)
United States death penalty case law (1 C, 17 P)
Wrongful conviction advocacy (39 P)
Race and crime in the United States (3 C, 28 P)
Anti-black racism in the United States (5 C, 3 P)
