Darryl Anthony Howard, 52, was awarded a new trial in May after a judge found misconduct during his 1995 conviction. On Tuesday, a state appeals court denied prosecutors’ request to keep Howard behind bars until they try him again, paving the way for his release.
Seema Saifee, one of Howard’s attorneys, delivered the news to him by phone early Tuesday.
“There was just this moment of pure joy,” said Saifee, a staff attorney with the nonprofit Innocence Project, which seeks to overturn wrongful convictions. “He has been waiting for this for so many years. He never gave up,” she added.
In overturning Howard’s conviction, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson found that prosecutors withheld evidence and that a police officer misled the jury. Hudson called Howard’s prosecution one of the “most horrendous” he’s seen in a 34-year career.
0 comments:
Post a Comment