by TChris

Darryl Hunt always knew he did not commit the 1984 rape and murder of Deborah Sykes in North Carolina. Evidence of his innocence has been building for years, but it has taken a confession by the true perpetrator to finally exonerate Hunt. On Friday, Superior Court Judge Anderson Cromer granted the joint request of the prosecution and defense to vacate the judgment of conviction and to dismiss Hunt's case with prejudice. The dismissal "with prejudice" assures that Hunt will never face these charges again.

The victory follows a long struggle for justice.

Police arrested Hunt a month after the murder on the strength of two eyewitness identifications. They never had any physical evidence to tie him to the crime, but several eyewitnesses testified that he was at or near the scene. He was convicted in 1985, and after his first conviction was overturned on a technicality, he was convicted again in 1990.

DNA testing ten years ago revealed that Hunt was not the source of the semen recovered from the victim. Hunt expected to be freed at that time, but the court did not consider the compelling new evidence of Hunt's innocence to be an adequate reason to give Hunt a new trial. An appellate court upheld that unfortunate decision. Hunt turned down a plea bargain that would have freed him at the time, saying he "would not plead guilty to a crime he didn't commit."

Last year, DNA testing linked the semen in the murder victim to Willard Brown, a man who had been a suspect in a different rape in 1985 and who resembled Hunt in some respects. Brown confessed after the police confronted him with the DNA evidence. Brown's detailed description of the crime convinced investigators that Brown was telling the truth, and that he had acted alone. Prosecutors then agreed to join the defense in seeking dismissal of the case against Hunt.

Hunt will now apply to the Governor for a pardon. If he is successful, he may be entitled to collect $20,000 per year for each year of his wrongful incarceration. He deserves it.

Hunt is "the 141st man across the country to be cleared by DNA evidence."