Judge: 1995 double-murder conviction tossed, freedom to come

Earlier that day, a judge threw out Howard’s double-murder conviction and allowed him to go home after 21 years in prison. Judge Orlando Hudson ordered him freed after hearing testimony on whether evidence could have proved Howard’s innocence was withheld by prosecutors and police. Two years ago, a judge overturned the guilty verdicts, but then the State Court of Appeals reversed the decision, keeping Howard in prison.

Darryl Howard walked out of the Durham County jail on Wednesday afternoon, and he and his wife walked hand-in-hand in front of the courthouse.

Howard credits Nannie with reaching out to lawyers around the country who work on wrongful conviction cases. “I am hopeful that the DA’s office will not re-try the case”, said Seema Saifee, a staff attorney with the Innocence Project, who worked on Howard’s case. However, a state appeals court ruled that Hudson had not heard enough evidence to make such a ruling. Now questions linger about the prosecutor of the case — the former district attorney already disbarred for lying and misconduct in the Duke University lacrosse rape case. Judge Orlando Hudson agreed with Howard’s attorneys that there was reasonable doubt that Howard committed the crimes and ordered that he be tried again. The couple married three years after Howard’s imprisonment.

Howard always maintained his innocence.

“When you have an error like this, and you have somebody that is a bad actor, and there’s no question that Mr. Nifong has done this before, why don’t you go back and systematically look at his cases?” said Scheck, who also defended former National Football League star O.J. Simpson at his 1995 murder trial.

One courtroom observer said it was no surprise prosecutors decided not to retry the case, which would have involved Howard’s lawyers presenting evidence of misconduct by the Durham district attorney’s office during Nifong’s tenure.

In the Duke lacrosse case, three athletes were accused of raping a stripper hired to entertain a team party. The 54-year-old was serving an 80-year sentence in medium security at a Warren County prison.

But DNA tests unavailable at the time of Howard’s original trial identified the man who had sex with Doris Washington shortly before her 1991 death as Jermeck Jones, who dated Nishonda before her death. Jones took the stand Tuesday but pleaded the fifth, and refused to answer any questions.