STORY: "Pair in supposed Satanic murder to be freed" by reporter Andrew Wolfson, published by the Courier-Journal on August 15, 2016.
PHOTO-CAPTION: "Inmates Garr Keith Hardin and Jeffrey Dewayne Clark wait for release after new DNA testing shows there was
no 'credible evidence' that murder was motivated by Satanic worship. The two await a new trial."
GIST: Vickie
Howser said she offered to buy her baby brother pizza Monday after he
was released on bond after 21 years in prison for a murder a judge found
was wrongly linked to Satan worship. But she said her brother, Garr Keith Hardin, who turned 47 last week, was too overwhelmed with emotion to be hungry. “It
was so awesome after 20 plus years just for him to walk out and for us
to bring him home,” she said in a phone interview. “But he has got
butterflies. He can’t eat.” Over the objection of Commonwealth’s
Attorney David Michael Williams, Judge Bruce T. Butler set bail Monday
morning at $50,000 for Hardin and Jeffrey Clark, whose convictions he
vacated last month. The judge said they could be released if they posted
10 percent of it. Clark’s lawyer, Linda A. Smith, supervising
attorney of the Kentucky Innocence Project, said she was thrilled the
men were released, while Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence
Project in New York, which represented Hardin, said: “This is a big step
on our long road to justice.” Butler wrote in an order July 14
that he found no credible evidence that the murder of Rhonda Sue
Warford, a Louisville woman whose body was dumped in a field, was
motivated by Satanic worship. He also said newly available DNA
testing shows that prosecutors and police erred in the pair’s 1995 trial
when they said a hair found on Warford’s sweatpants was a “microscopic
match” with Hardin. Both defendants were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Williams, who opposed the DNA test, says he wants to retry both men and has filed a notice he will appeal the judge’s order. Smith,
who hoped that the commonwealth would dismiss the charges altogether,
said their release on bond is “three-quarters of a victory” because she
said there is virtually no evidence left against them and she is
confident that the Kentucky Court of Appeals will affirm Butler’s order..........The
Meade County sheriff and Louisville police turned their attention on
Hardin after Warford’s mother told them she had been dating Hardin, that
he was friends with Clark and that all three had been 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
that turned out to be Hardin’s. In his ruling last month, Butler
said the DNA evidence also showed that then-Commonwealth’s Attorney
Kenton Smith, who tried the case, was wrong when he told the jury that a
broken cup seized from Hardin's bedroom was a "chalice" from which both
defendants ritually sacrificed animals and drank their blood from it to
enhance their standing with “Lucifer.” Smith had told the jury Hardin
lied when he claimed he had cut his hand when he dropped a cup. The
judge said the DNA tests showed that the blood was from Hardin, not an
animal,and that Clark was telling the truth. The court also called
into question the truthfulness of former Louisville Police Department
Detective Mark Handy, who testified that Hardin told him during an
interrogation that he had gotten “tired of looking at animals and began
to want to do human sacrifices." Judge Butler said there was no
evidence introduced at trial to support that, and that an internal
Louisville police investigation found Handy engaged in misconduct in a
different case when he falsely attributed incriminating statements to
defendant Edwin Chandler in a murder for which he was convicted but
later exonerated. Chandler, who spent nine years in prison, won an $8.5
million settlement from Louisville Metro. Defending the
convictions, Williams noted that Hardin admitted before the Kentucky
Parole Board that he stabbed stabbing Warford and was involved with
Satanism. He also implicated Hardin. But Butler said that offenders are
forced to take responsibility for the crimes they did not commit in
order to win parole. "
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2016/08/15/pair-supposed-satantic-murder-freed/88768684/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
The
Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty
incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the
harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into
pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology
system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent
stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please
send any comments or information on other cases and issues of
interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;