Category Archives: DNA

TIME U.S. Crime Judge Frees 2 North Carolina Men Imprisoned for 30 Years Henry McCollum sits on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C. on Aug. 12, 2014. He and his half brother Leon Brown have spent more than three decades in prison for the alleged rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie in 1983. Travis LongAP DNA evidence exonerates two half-brothers convicted of the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl

Updated: Sept. 2, 6:30 p.m.

Two half-brothers who were convicted in the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old North Carolina girl were ordered free Tuesday, after a judge ruled that they had been wrongly imprisoned thanks to newly discovered DNA evidence.

North Carolina Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser overturned the convictions of death row inmate Henry Lee McCollum, 50, and Leon Brown, 46, who had been serving a life sentence. Both men originally confessed to the rape and murder of Sabrina Buie, who was found dead in a soybean field in rural North Carolina.

The ruling comes after an investigation by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission that found no DNA evidence at the crime scene that could be traced back to McCollum or Brown.

But a cigarette found and tested in 2010 contained the DNA of another man, Roscoe Artis, who lived a block away from where the crime took place and is serving a life sentence for another murder and rape within weeks of Buies death.

Its impossible to put into words what these men have been through and how much they have lost, said Ken Rose, a lawyer who represents McCollum, in a statement.

McCollum and Brown, both mentally challenged, initially signed statements saying they were responsible for Buies death. According to Browns defense lawyers, the two signed the statements believing they would go home afterward.

When Henry gave his confession, he got up to walk out of the interrogation room, says W. James Payne, a lawyer representing Brown. He started to walk out the door.

Both appealed their convictions over the years. In 2006, Brown filed a motion to test the DNA of a cigarette butt found at the crime scene. The results eventually excluded both McCollum and Brown. Several years later, the states innocence commission got involved and in July announced that DNA on the cigarette butt actually belonged to Artis.

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Judge Frees 2 North Carolina Men Imprisoned for 30 Years

DEMETRIUS FREEMAN | Times

54 year old Paul Hildwin, left, sign paperwork with his attorneys associated with the Innocents Project, Trail Attorney Lyann Goudie, middle, and Attorney Marie Parmer, right, during his pretrial at the Hernando County Courthouse in Brooksville on Tuesday morning September 2, 2014. Paul Hildwin was sentenced to death in 1986 for the killing of 42-year-old Vrronzetti Cox, who he testified had picked him up while he was hitchhiking. Hildwin has been on death row for 28 years when the Florida Supreme Court overturned the conviction and sentencing in June when DNA testing revealed that the samples belonged to William Haverty, Cox's boyfriend and also a potential suspect. Hildwin has New lawyers associated with the Innocents Project, Trail Attorney Lyann Goudie and Attorney Marie Parmer. Hildwin waived his right to a speedy trail, which means he will go to trial on Sept. 29.

DEMETRIUS FREEMAN | Times

Paul Hildwin, 54, left, signs paperwork with his attorneys, Lyann Goudie, center, and Marie Parmer, who are associated with the Innocence Project, during his pretrial hearing Tuesday morning at the Hernando County Courthouse in Brooksville. Hildwin was sentenced to death in the 1985 Hernando County killing of 42-year-old Vronzettie Cox, who he testified had picked him up while he was hitchhiking. Hildwin had been on death row for 28 years when the Florida Supreme Court overturned the conviction and sentencing in June after DNA testing revealed that evidence samples belonged to William Haverty, Cox's boyfriend. The date of his retrial had been set for Sept. 29 after Hildwin refused last month to waive his right to a speedy trial. On Tuesday, he reversed his position. His new trial date will be set later.

DNA testing gets man off death row after 28 years 09/02/14 [Last modified: Tuesday, September 2, 2014 10:11pm]

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DNA testing gets man off death row after 28 years

LUMBERTON, N.C. - A North Carolina judge overturned the convictions Tuesday of two men who have served 30 years in prison for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl after another man's DNA was recently discovered on evidence in the case.

Superior Court Judge Douglass Sasser ordered the immediate release of Henry McCollum, 50, and Leon Brown, 46. The half brothers were convicted in the 1983 slaying of Sabrina Buie in Robeson County.

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Lawyers for the men petitioned for their release after DNA evidence from a cigarette butt recovered at the crime scene pointed to another man. That man, who lived close to the soybean field where the dead girl's body was found, is already serving a life sentence for a similar rape and murder that happened less than a month later.

Family members of McCollum and Brown were in the packed courtroom as the judge announced his decision.

"We waited years and years," said James McCollum, Henry's father. "We kept the faith."

Sasser ruled after a day-long evidence hearing during which Sharon Stellato, the associate director North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, testified about three interviews she had over the summer with the 74-year-old inmate now suspected of killing Buie. The Associated Press does not generally disclose the names of criminal suspects unless they are charged.

According to Stellato, the inmate said at first he didn't know Buie. But in later interviews, the man said the girl would come to his house and buy cigarettes for him, Stellato said.

The man also told them he saw the girl the night she went missing and gave her a coat and hat because it was raining, Stellato said. He told the commission that's why his DNA may have been at the scene.

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Judge overturns murder-rape convictions for 2 who served 30 years

Henry McCollum (left) with his lawyer Tuesday. A judge overturned his and his half brother Leon Brown's convictions.

Image: Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT via Getty Images

By The Associated Press2014-09-02 23:04:57 UTC

LUMBERTON, N.C. A North Carolina judge overturned the convictions Tuesday of two men who have served 30 years in prison for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl after another man's DNA was recently discovered on evidence in the case.

Superior Court Judge Douglass Sasser ordered the immediate release of Henry McCollum, 50, and Leon Brown, 46. The half brothers were convicted in the 1983 slaying of Sabrina Buie in Robeson County. Both are mentally disabled.

Lawyers for the men petitioned for their release after DNA evidence from a cigarette butt recovered at the crime scene pointed to another man. That man, who lived close to the soybean field where the dead girl's body was found, is already serving a life sentence for a similar rape and murder that happened less than a month later.

Family members for the men gasped and some sobbed as the judge announced his decision to the packed courtroom. Brown smiled and shook a defense lawyer's hand and McCollum looked spent and relieved.

"We waited years and years," said James McCollum, Henry's father. "We kept the faith."

It was not immediately clear how soon the men will walk free. Procedure requires that they return to the prisons where they have been serving time before they can be processed out.

McCollum has been housed for decades on North Carolina's death row at Central Prison in Raleigh. Brown is assigned to Maury Correctional Institution, a high security prison in Greene County.

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DNA Evidence Frees 2 Men Imprisoned for 30 Years

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DNA: Analysis of PM Narendra Modi #39;s Japan plan
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