MIKE RAPPAPORT: A Record Year for Exonerations. “The article and report treat these cases as exonerations. But these cases do not necessarily involve convicted persons who were innocent. Rather, the report often includes cases where there was enough new evidence to vacate the conviction and the prosecutors decided not to have a new trial. Typically, this means that there was some mistake at the original trial, but it does not prove that the person is innocent. Still, if the defendant’s trial was seriously faulty, it is appropriate to vacate it and that may lead to release.”