Cornealious Michael Anderson III

Cornealious Michael "Mike" Anderson III was convicted of armed robbery in 2000 and sentenced to 13 years in the Missouri state prison system. Shortly after his conviction he was released on bail pending the outcome of an appeal of his conviction. In May 2002, his appeal was rejected but, due to a clerical error, his bond was not revoked when a warrant was issued for his arrest. It was unclear why he was not arrested and imprisoned to serve his 13-year sentence, but, apparently due to clerical errors and miscommunication, the Missouri Department of Corrections thought he was already in prison. The error was only discovered when he was scheduled to be released from prison in 2013. On July 25, 2013 he was arrested and required to serve his 13-year sentence. The case stirred controversy when investigative articles were written by Jessica Lussenhop in the Riverfront Times newspaper and when his case was covered nationally in the United States in an episode of This American Life. By April 2014, his case began receiving extensive national and international attention. These articles and episode raised the question of whether he should be returned to prison 13 years after his conviction especially since the victim of his crime did not believe he should be in prison. Anderson's attorney filed several appeals and petitions for his release from prison, and on May 5, 2014 Anderson was released from prison. In 2014, he was arrested for another crime, but subsequent videotape evidence showed that he could not have committed the crime and charges were dropped with an apology by Circuit Attorney Jennifer M. Joyce.