Prosecutor drops case against man imprisoned for 2 decades

Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson said Wednesday that evidence would have created a reasonable doubt for jurors.

When the tests excluded Howard as a DNA match, Mike Nifong – an assistant district attorney at the time who since has been disbarred for his prosecutorial misconduct in the Duke lacrosse case – and a lead detective said the case had never been investigated as a sexual assault. “I’m thankful this is over. I’m just happy right now”.

Howard, 54, said he was looking forward to building a relationship with the wife who married him three years after he entered prison and seeing his grandchildren. Howard credited her with pursuing lawyers who work on wrongful conviction cases; his conviction and 80-year sentence was eventually taken up by the New York-based Innocence Project. “I don’t see any reason why he can’t be released today”, he said in an abc report.

Durham prosecutors had asked the judge to uphold the conviction, pointing to witnesses who place Howard at the scene.

The judge had previously been in favour of ordering Howard’s release two years ago, calling it “a horrendous prosecution” which ignored “there was extremely credible, strong evidence that Mr. Howard did not commit” the crime. But prosecutors appealed at the time, and a state appeals court ruled this spring that Hudson failed to hear enough evidence before making a decision. This cleared the way for Howard to be set free.

A man who spent 21 years in prison has been freed after a judge threw out his double-murder conviction.

DNA evidence presented at Howard’s 1991 trial showed he was not responsible for sexually assaulting Nishonda Washington before her murder.

Darryl Howard walks hand in hand with his wife, Nannie, minutes after being freed from prison after serving 21 years in Durham, N.C., Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. “The only silver lining here is that this was not a capital conviction, because, had it been, Mr. Howard, an innocent man, might not be here today”, said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project.

The memo was about an informant’s tip that Washington was raped and killed by members of a NY street gang for which she dealt drugs.