After DNA evidence showed that another man was responsible for the rape and murder of a woman back in 1982, the Virginia Attorney General is seeking to help exonerate a man wrongfully imprisoned for the said convictions.
According to Reuters, 59-year-old Keith Harward has been behind bars since 1986. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced on Wednesday that he will be asking the state Supreme Court to vacate the convictions against Harward as soon as possible.
Herring said in a statement that the case of Harward involved the Commonwealth getting the conviction wrong, adding that the "pursuit of justice requires me to join in support of Mr. Harward's petition" for exoneration before the high court.
Herring added that if the DNA results were available at the time of Harward's trial, "no rational trier of fact would have found proof of Harward's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," WDBJ7 reported. The Attorney General added that it could take weeks before the Supreme Court hear the case of Harward.
The 59-year-old man was convicted in the killing of Jesse Perron. According to reports, she was beaten to death with a crowbar in Newport News, Virginia, as well as the sexual assault of his wife, ABC News reported. He was convicted after the testimony of two forensic dentists confirmed the teeth of Harward matched the bite marks left on the legs of Perron. He was then sentenced to life in prison.
DNA from the crime scene was checked through the national Combined DNA Index System and it was later found out that the match was with another man named Jerry Crotty. However, Crotty died in an Ohio prison last 2006. Crotty and Harward were shipmates aboard the aircraft carrier called Carl Vinson.
The Innocence Project is now aiding Harward in his bid to be cleared from the convictions. The organization has helped prisoners in the past to be proven not guilty via DNA testing. Harward has filed his petition for exoneration last month.
