Originally posted on Misinformationvisualization.com on 12/9/2013.

According to Change.org’s current homepage:

“Family wins release of son from prison! Ryan Ferguson’s family fought for his release from prison for a murder they say he didn’t commit. Ryan’s father, Bill, started a petition asking for Ryan to be freed, and after 250,000 signatures, Ryan’s conviction was overturned.”

Ferguson was convicted in 2005. His father started an online petition on change.org to get him a new trial. in 2013, after 250,000 signatures, the two main witnesses against him recanted their testimony under oath, and his conviction was overturned!

It would be interesting if we could test and determine exactly how many petition signatures is the critical number necessary to get a murder conviction overturned, and whether the petition caused the witnesses to recant, or whether the petition alone would have been sufficient to get the conviction reversed even if the witnesses hadn’t recanted.