Thursday, August 4, 2016

Garr Keith Hardin; Jeffrey Dewayne Clark; Kentucky: Bail hearing: The Innocence Project won a long battle for new DNA testing that discredited key evidence in the case - and a new trial was ordered - the two men must remain in prison while a judge determines whether they should be released on bail..."Police searched Hardin's home and found a Satanic bible and other books as well as a washcloth soaked in blood. Hardin, then 22, and Clark, 21, maintained their innocence throughout the investigation. Witnesses testified that they were at Clark's trailer in Louisville at the time of the crime. But they were convicted based in part on an expert's testimony that a hair found on Warford's sweatpants was a "microscopic match" with Hardin, a standard the FBI has since renounced as implying a level of certainty not backed by science. Although the prosecution's experts ultimately determined that Warford's death was not a ritual sacrifice, former Meade Commonwealth's Attorney Kenton Smith argued at trial that it was Satanically inspired. The pair got life in prison, but the case drew the attention of Innocence Project attorneys who launched a legal battle on their behalf. In 2013, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the men, convicted based on "highly circumstantial evidence," should have access to DNA testing that wasn't available at the time of their trial. The testing revealed that the hair didn't belong to either man. And it found that blood found on a washcloth at Hardin's house was his own — not that of animals the prosecution claimed he used in alleged ritual sacrifices." Courier-Journal;




"Last month, after Innocence Project attorneys won a, Meade Circuit Judge Bruce Butler found that there was no “credible evidence” that the murder was motivated by Satanic worship and ordered a new trial for both men. But at a crowded hearing Thursday in which attorneys sought bail, Judge Butler said he needed time to weigh the question and would issue a written opinion soon, forcing frustrated family members to leave empty handed.......... Bail was opposed by Meade Commonwealth’s Attorney David Williams – whose office also opposed the DNA testing. He argued in court that the two men were a flight risk, and, in an interview, said he plans to retry the men and plans to appeal Butler’s ruling for a new trial..........The high-profile case began in April 1992, when Warford, 19 at the time, disappeared in Louisville’s South End. Her body was found three days later in Meade County's Dead Horse Hollow. She’d been stabbed 11 times. The Meade County sheriff and Louisville police focused their attention on Hardin after Warford's mother told them she had been dating him, that he was friends with Clark and that all three had dabbled in Satanic practices. Police searched Hardin's home and found a Satanic bible and other books as well as a washcloth soaked in blood. Hardin, then 22, and Clark, 21, maintained their innocence throughout the investigation. Witnesses testified that they were at Clark's trailer in Louisville at the time of the crime. But they were convicted based in part on an expert's testimony that a hair found on Warford's sweatpants was a "microscopic match" with Hardin, a standard the FBI has since renounced as implying a level of certainty not backed by science. Although the prosecution's experts ultimately determined that Warford's death was not a ritual sacrifice, former Meade Commonwealth's Attorney Kenton Smith argued at trial that it was Satanically inspired. The pair got life in prison, but the case drew the attention of Innocence Project attorneys who launched a legal battle on their behalf. In 2013, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the men, convicted based on "highly circumstantial evidence," should have access to DNA testing that wasn't available at the time of their trial. The testing revealed that the hair didn't belong to either man. And it found that blood found on a washcloth at Hardin's house was his own — not that of animals the prosecution claimed he used in alleged ritual sacrifices.........Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project in New York, who represented Hardin as did attorneys Larry Simon and Seema Saifee, said he believes the men will get bail and that because most of the evidence was discredited, retrying the case or appealing the judge’s ruling is “a losing proposition.”http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2016/08/04/judge-weighs-bail-satanic-murderer-case/87929482/