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Darryl Hunt marks four years of freedom
Posted: February 6, 2008 4:14 pm
Four years ago today, Darryl Hunt was exonerated in North Carolina after serving more than 18 years in prison for a brutal Winston-Salem murder he didn’t commit. Hunt was first convicted of the murder in 1985, but a judge threw out the conviction because prosecutors used a girlfriend’s statements against Hunt at trial even after she had recanted them. While he was waiting for a second trial, he refused an offer to plead guilty that would have set him free.
After 11 months outside of prison awaiting trial, Hunt was again convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1989. Five years later, DNA evidence in the case was tested and showed that semen from the crime scene excluded Hunt. He wouldn’t be freed, however, until 2004, when the DNA profile from the crime scene was run in the state database at the request of Hunt’s attorneys. The profile matched a man serving time in prison for another murder. Finally, this evidence led to Hunt’s exoneration in 2004.
For more on Darryl Hunt’s long struggle for justice, rent or buy "The Trials of Daryl Hunt, "an award-winning documentary detailing his story, now available on DVD. View a trailer of the film and buy a copy here.
Read more about Daryl Hunt's case here.
Other exoneration anniversaries this week:
Today: Chris Ochoa and Richard Danziger, Texas (Served 11 Years, Exonerated 02/06/02)
Friday: Anthony Gray, Maryland (Served 7 Years, Exonerated 02/08/99)
Saturday: Donte L. Booker, Ohio (Served 15 Years, Exonerated 02/09/05)
Lesly Jean, North Carolina (Served 9 Years, Exonerated 02/09/01)
Tags: Donte Booker, Richard Danziger, Anthony Gray, Darryl Hunt, Lesly Jean, Christopher Ochoa
Seven Years Free and Speaking Out
Posted: February 10, 2009 4:09 pm
It was seven years ago Saturday when Bruce Godschalk walked out of a Pennsylvania prison, finally free after serving nearly 15 years for a rape that DNA proves he didn’t commit. After a composite sketch led police to identify Godschalk as a suspect in a 1986 rape, they interrogated him for hours on end. The interview ended with an audiotaped confessions from Godschalk, including facts about the crime not know to the public.
Later, Godschalk would say that the facts were fed to him during the interview, and that he simply repeated information from police in order to get the interrogation to end. Godschalk fought for several years for DNA testing that could prove his innocence. When he finally obtained testing with the help of the Innocence Project in 2001, police said they had already sent evidence to a lab without the consent of the Innocence Project, that the tests had consumed all of the available evidence, and that the results were inconclusive. This was not true, however, and biological evidence that had previously been declared lost was turned over by police to the crime lab. The results proved Godschalk’s innocence and he was freed.
Since his release, Godschalk has been active in working to promote criminal justice reforms around the country. Late last year, he joined Innocence Project Policy Analyst Rebecca Brown at the National Youth Leadership Forum conference.Other exoneration anniversaries this week:
Sunday: Anthony Gray, Maryland (Served 7 Years, Exonerated 1999)
Monday: Donte Booker, Ohio (Served 15 Years, Exonerated 2005)
Lesly Jean, North Carolina (Served 9 Years, Exonerated 2001)
Tags: Donte Booker, Bruce Godschalk, David A. Gray, Lesly Jean