Keith Harward was released from prison in the US state of Virginia yesterday after spending 33 years imprisoned for the killing of Jesse Perron and the rape of his wife in Newport News in 1982.
The Virginia Supreme Court accepted DNA evidence that exonerated him.
His conviction relied on the testimony of a security guard security guard who identified Harward as the man he saw entering the Newport News shipyard wearing a bloody uniform (he was a sailor on the USS Carl Vinson) and on discredited bite mark evidence. There was no other evidence linking Harward (then 27) to the case.
Teresa Perron survived and failed to identify Harward.
The Innocence Project became involved in Harward's case two years ago and pushed for DNA tests, which failed to identify Harward's genetic profile in semen left at the crime scene. Said DNA did match that of one of Harward's (former) shipmates who died in an Ohio prison in June 2006 while serving a sentence for abduction.
Luckily for Mr. Harward (who's not 60) a procedural loophole in the law caused his original capital murder conviction to be overturned in 1985, otherwise the State of Virginia would have killed an innocent man.
The officer who led the investigation, C. D. Spinner, was given an "outstanding police officer" award the year after the conviction.
The Virginia Supreme Court accepted DNA evidence that exonerated him.
His conviction relied on the testimony of a security guard security guard who identified Harward as the man he saw entering the Newport News shipyard wearing a bloody uniform (he was a sailor on the USS Carl Vinson) and on discredited bite mark evidence. There was no other evidence linking Harward (then 27) to the case.
Teresa Perron survived and failed to identify Harward.
The Innocence Project became involved in Harward's case two years ago and pushed for DNA tests, which failed to identify Harward's genetic profile in semen left at the crime scene. Said DNA did match that of one of Harward's (former) shipmates who died in an Ohio prison in June 2006 while serving a sentence for abduction.
Luckily for Mr. Harward (who's not 60) a procedural loophole in the law caused his original capital murder conviction to be overturned in 1985, otherwise the State of Virginia would have killed an innocent man.
The officer who led the investigation, C. D. Spinner, was given an "outstanding police officer" award the year after the conviction.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1Mm0PP9
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