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Broward Prosecutors Exonerate Man From 1983 Rape, Murder of College Student
From yesterday, too late for LBN.
DefamatoryCowHat Retweeted
Just prior to his execution, a man on death row in Arkansas wrote a letter to authorities taking responsibility for a murder in Florida for which another man had been imprisoned. DNA testing now confirms Florida had the wrong man.
Link to tweet
Broward Prosecutors Exonerate Man From 1983 Rape, Murder of College Student
JESSICA LIPSCOMB | MARCH 21, 2019 | 1:27PM
At his sentencing for the 1983 murder of a West Palm Beach college student, Ronald Henry Stewart said he was pleading no contest because it was in his best interest. Although his attorney pointed out a slew of flaws in the case — a potentially faulty eyewitnesses, the use of jailhouse snitches, and fingerprint evidence that didn't match Stewart's prints — Stewart had previously been convicted of multiple rapes, and he feared being executed if a jury convicted him of killing 20-year-old Regina Harrison.
"Rather than, you know, run the risk of the death penalty, he chose to enter this plea," his lawyer told the court at sentencing.
That day, Stewart was sentenced to 50 years in prison for Harrison's murder. He never appealed his plea or filed court petitions arguing he was innocent of the crime. But now, after a follow-up investigation using DNA evidence, Broward County prosecutors say Stewart should never have been charged with Harrison's death. In a news release Thursday, the prosecutors announced they were seeking to overturn Stewart's conviction, saying they had found the man who actually murdered Harrison — serial killer Jack Harold Jones.
"Ronald Stewart would not have been charged with murder if DNA testing had been available at the time," the Broward State Attorney's Office wrote. "Ronald Stewart was not responsible for the murder of Regina Harrison."
Unfortunately for Stewart, the news of exoneration comes too late: While incarcerated in 2008, he died of cancer at the age of 48. Jones, the man linked to Harrison through DNA evidence, is also dead. He was executed by the State of Arkansas in 2017 for committing another murder.
....
JESSICA LIPSCOMB | MARCH 21, 2019 | 1:27PM
At his sentencing for the 1983 murder of a West Palm Beach college student, Ronald Henry Stewart said he was pleading no contest because it was in his best interest. Although his attorney pointed out a slew of flaws in the case — a potentially faulty eyewitnesses, the use of jailhouse snitches, and fingerprint evidence that didn't match Stewart's prints — Stewart had previously been convicted of multiple rapes, and he feared being executed if a jury convicted him of killing 20-year-old Regina Harrison.
"Rather than, you know, run the risk of the death penalty, he chose to enter this plea," his lawyer told the court at sentencing.
That day, Stewart was sentenced to 50 years in prison for Harrison's murder. He never appealed his plea or filed court petitions arguing he was innocent of the crime. But now, after a follow-up investigation using DNA evidence, Broward County prosecutors say Stewart should never have been charged with Harrison's death. In a news release Thursday, the prosecutors announced they were seeking to overturn Stewart's conviction, saying they had found the man who actually murdered Harrison — serial killer Jack Harold Jones.
"Ronald Stewart would not have been charged with murder if DNA testing had been available at the time," the Broward State Attorney's Office wrote. "Ronald Stewart was not responsible for the murder of Regina Harrison."
Unfortunately for Stewart, the news of exoneration comes too late: While incarcerated in 2008, he died of cancer at the age of 48. Jones, the man linked to Harrison through DNA evidence, is also dead. He was executed by the State of Arkansas in 2017 for committing another murder.
....