![\"trial](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/trial-scales-gavel.jpg?resize=236%2C213\")
\nA Kentucky judge has vacated the convictions of two men whom prosecutors said were inspired by satanic worship to murder a woman in 1992.<\/p>\n
\nA Kentucky judge has vacated the convictions of two men whom prosecutors said were inspired by satanic worship to murder a woman in 1992.<\/p>\n
Meade Circuit Judge Bruce T. Butler ordered new trials for Garr Keith Hardin and Jeffrey Dewayne Clark. The two men were convicted for the murder of 19-year-old Rhonda Sue Warford in part based on a hair found on her sweatpants that prosecutors said was a “microscopic match” to Hardin.<\/p>\n
New DNA testing showed the hair did not come from Hardin.<\/p>\n
Butler also said prosecutors were wrong to tell the jury a cup found in Hardin’s room was a “chalice” used to drink sacrificial animals’ blood to enhance their standing with Lucifer. At the time, Hardin said he cut his hand on the cup. DNA testing confirmed the blood belonged to Hardin.<\/p>\n
Former Meade Commonwealth’s Attorney Kenton Smith, who prosecuted the case, said he was surprised with the ruling given that both men “have on multiple occasions admitted their involvement.”<\/p>\n
Current Meade Commonwealth’s Attorney David Michael Williams opposed the motion for a new trial, noting that Clark admitted to the Kentucky Parole Board he stabbed Warford and was involved with satanism. But Butler noted defendants are often forced to take responsibility for crimes they did not commit in an attempt to win parole.<\/p>\n
Kentucky Innocence Project Director Linda Smith represented Clark and Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project in New York, represented Hardin. Both men will be returned to the Meade County Jail. If Williams decides to seek a retrial, he could ask for bail to be set. Scheck said he believes the judge’s “strong and powerful opinion” should rule out a retrial.<\/p>\n
Warford disappeared on April 1, 1992. Her body was found three days later in Meade County’s Dead Horse Hollow. She had been stabbed 11 times.
\nSource: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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