Donald Sanderson

Donald Sanderson was a wrongfully convicted man that appeared in the Season Six episode 25 to Life.

Background
Don was a second-year medical resident intending to specialize in pediatrics living with his wife, Carrie, and their children, Abby and Joshua, in Washington D.C. . On the night of March 9, 1985, when Don had gone to sleep on the couch after an argument, a resentful former resident of the house, James Stanworth, broke into the house along with two local petty thieves, Mary Rutka and Tommy Wittman, knocked down and stabbed Don non-fatally and killed Carrie and Abby, leaving Joshua alive on Rutka's request. When the police started investigating, Don told them what had happened. But when he at first forgot to mention that a woman was present, they became increasingly suspicious. The investigation came to the conclusion that Don had killed his wife and daughter and injured himself to make himself look like a victim; it was argued that, being a medical student, he would have the knowledge and skills required to do so. At the trial, the prosecution claimed that Don had suffered an acute psychological break and was a psychopath. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in 25 years. In prison, he became a model inmate. He even started a mentor program that helped 41 inmates get their General Education Diplomas. When he realized that Tommy Wittman, who worked at the local grocery store where the Sandersons had lived, had been present during the attack, he began using his Internet privileges to do research about him online. When Stanworth, who had become a successful businessman and congressional candidate, found out, he arranged to have a stash of heroin planted in Don's cell, successfully getting his Internet privileges revoked.

Appearances

 * Season Six
 * "25 to Life