For more than 20 years, two Kentucky men were in prison because a jury said they killed a woman to curry favor with the devil as part of a satanic ritual.
New evidence, including DNA and revelations that could discredit a key witness, prompted a judge to release Jeffrey Dewayne Clark and Garr Keith Hardin from prison last year and order them a new trial. Now Kentucky’s highest court is reviewing that decision, considering whether the judge abused his authority by overturning the men’s convictions in a case that grabbed national attention amid the satanic abuse scare of the 1980s and 1990s.
Thursday, Kentucky’s Supreme Court heard arguments from the state Attorney General’s office about why Clark and Hardin should be sent back to prison without a new trial.
Key pieces of evidence from the 1995 trial include a single hair found on victim Rhonda Warford’s sweatpants that an expert at the time said was similar to the hair of Hardin, her former boyfriend. Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Mark Handy said Hardin told him he worshipped Satan and was interested in sacrificing people. And police found a blood-stained cloth with what they called a “chalice” in Hardin’s bedroom, which they said was evidence that he killed animals and drank their blood as part of his worship of Satan.
But since then, DNA analysis shows the hair does not belong to Hardin. The blood on the cloth was actually Hardin’s blood, not an animal. And Handy was later found to have lied under oath about a different murder case, which defense attorneys say question his credibility.
Assistant Attorney General Perry Ryan said the legal standard for ordering a new trial means new evidence shows a jury would “probably” reach a different verdict. He said the new evidence here does not meet that standard, because it shows a different verdict would be “possible,” but not “probable.”
Source: AP
You must be logged in to post a comment.