Saturday, August 22, 2015

Bulletin: Douglas Prade; Ohio; He wins right to another hearing over DNA findings; "In November 2012, Hunter held the first set of hearings on what was then the latest test results of the bite-mark DNA. All of the experts who testified in those hearings agreed that Prade was excluded, and Hunter issued her findings of actual innocence the following January." Beacon Journal;

"Former Akron Police Captain Douglas Prade has won another round of court hearings on DNA evidence in his bid for a new trial in the 1997 shooting death of his ex-wife. It marks the second time in three years that an evidentiary hearing will be held to examine bite-mark evidence on Dr. Margo Prade’s lab coat. The notorious case has received nationwide investigative television news coverage since the former captain’s conviction in his 1998 Summit County trial. In a court order released Thursday, Common Pleas Judge Christine Croce, scheduled the new hearing date Nov. 4 at 1 p.m.........Prade, 69, remains in a state penitentiary after an appellate court overturned a lower court’s 2013 order freeing him from prison after he had served nearly 15 years for the crime. That order, by now-retired Judge Judy Hunter, was based on advanced DNA testing that excluded Prade from crucial crime-scene evidence — a bite mark under a lab coat worn by Dr. Prade on the morning of the slaying. Both sides always have agreed there was a struggle inside Dr. Prade’s minivan and that the killer bit her, leaving an impression on the upper-left arm through her lab coat and blouse. In November 2012, Hunter held the first set of hearings on what was then the latest test results of the bite-mark DNA. All of the experts who testified in those hearings agreed that Prade was excluded, and Hunter issued her findings of actual innocence the following January."
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/prade-wins-right-to-another-hearing-over-dna-findings-1.618107