Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Bulletin: Kevin Martin; District of Columbia; Victim of FBI tainted hair match debacle; Spent 26 years in prison; He has filed a $30 million lawsuit nearly a year after being exonerated for the crime. Kevin Martin, 51, was convicted in the murder of a Washington woman largely as a result of errors by an elite FBI forensic unit that linked him to a hair collected at the crime scene."

"A former District man who spent 26 years in prison after being wrongly convicted in a 1982 murder filed a $30 million lawsuit against the District in D.C. Superior Court, nearly a year after he was exonerated in the crime. Kevin Martin, 51, was convicted in the murder of a Washington woman largely as a result of errors by an elite FBI forensic unit that linked him to a hair collected at the crime scene. Last July, a D.C. Superior Court judge exonerated Martin after the U.S. attorney’s office agreed with his attorney and called for the vacating of the conviction after a multi-year investigation into the case. On Monday, the court issued a summons to Karl Racine, the District’s attorney general. A hearing has been scheduled for September. Martin and his attorney, Bernie Grimm, filed the lawsuit last week.  Martin, who had long professed his innocence in the killing, was paroled in 2009 and lives in San Francisco."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/man-sues-district-for-30-million-for-wrongful-1982-murder-conviction/2015/06/29/28a8e3ca-1ea3-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html