PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In 2017, Clark and Hardin filed federal wrongful conviction lawsuits against Metro Government, several Louisville police officers, Meade County and other officials, claiming they were framed by police. DNA evidence had "conclusively proven that that evidence was left by another man, not Hardin or Clark," the suits alleged. A Meade County judge overturned the conviction in 2016 based, in part, on the DNA evidence and allegations investigators had lied. Investigators were accused of ignoring other suspects, fabricating, destroying and concealing evidence and covering up misconduct by multiple Louisville police officers, detectives and supervisors, among others. The only physical evidence tying Clark or Hardin to the murder, a hair found on the victim's clothing, was "also a sham," according to the wrongful conviction lawsuits. A Kentucky State Police official "falsely" told prosecutors the hair matched Hardin, but DNA testing in 2014 excluded him and Clark." Additionally, attorneys said the date on Warford's death certificate was changed to get around Clark and Hardin's alibis."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The lawsuits also allege that in September 1993, a witness told a grand jury that Warford's ex-boyfriend, a convicted felon, had admitted to killing her. But investigators ignored the suspect and "continued to frame Clark and Hardin for a murder that they did not commit."
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STORY: "Federal jury awards nearly $25M to Kentucky man wrongfully convicted in 1992 'satanic ritual' murder," published by WDRB Digital Staff, on April 30, 2026.
GIST A federal jury awarded nearly $25 million Wednesday to one of two men wrongfully convicted for the alleged "satanic ritual" killing of Rhonda Sue Warford in 1992.
In a news release Thursday, Jeffrey Clark's legal team said a federal jury awarded Clark $24.35 million in his civil suit against Meade County, former Meade County Sheriff Joseph Greer, Deputy Clifford Wise and former Meade County Coroner William Adams, who they say "conspired to wrongfully imprison him (Clark) for 22.5 years."
Attorneys call it one of "the largest" civil rights verdicts in the state of Kentucky. In addition to the $24.35 million, the jury awarded Clark an additional $75,000 in punitive damages.
Clark and Keith Hardin spent more than two decades in prison before they were released in 2016 after the Kentucky Innocence Project took on the case. A judge dismissed their charges without prejudice in 2018.
They were convicted in a case fraught with "lies and misconduct." Louisville police detective Mark Handy worked with then-Meade County Sheriff Greer, and others, to create a "false theory" that Clark and Hardin murdered Warford in a satanic ritual killing.
The Innocence Project proved investigators ignored other suspects, used fabricated statements and destroyed and concealed evidence. Handy was later locked up for perjury in other murder cases, but was released just weeks into his one-year prison sentence in 2021.
Warford disappeared on April 2, 1992, and was found stabbed to death in a field in Meade County, about 50 miles from her Louisville home. Both Louisville and Meade County investigators worked the case.
Warford's family told police that she was dating Hardin and that he worshiped Satan.
The wrongful conviction lawsuits acknowledged that Hardin "had practiced modern Satanism, which forbids blood sacrifice and killing of any kind." Clark, according to a previous lawsuit, never practiced Satanism.
In 2017, Clark and Hardin filed federal wrongful conviction lawsuits against Metro Government, several Louisville police officers, Meade County and other officials, claiming they were framed by police.
DNA evidence had "conclusively proven that that evidence was left by another man, not Hardin or Clark," the suits alleged. A Meade County judge overturned the conviction in 2016 based, in part, on the DNA evidence and allegations investigators had lied.
Investigators were accused of ignoring other suspects, fabricating, destroying and concealing evidence and covering up misconduct by multiple Louisville police officers, detectives and supervisors, among others.
The only physical evidence tying Clark or Hardin to the murder, a hair found on the victim's clothing, was "also a sham," according to the wrongful conviction lawsuits. A Kentucky State Police official "falsely" told prosecutors the hair matched Hardin, but DNA testing in 2014 excluded him and Clark.
Additionally, attorneys said the date on Warford's death certificate was changed to get around Clark and Hardin's alibis.
The lawsuits also allege that in September 1993, a witness told a grand jury that Warford's ex-boyfriend, a convicted felon, had admitted to killing her. But investigators ignored the suspect and "continued to frame Clark and Hardin for a murder that they did not commit."
In 2023, Louisville Metro agreed to pay $20.5 million to Clark and Hardin in their wrongful conviction lawsuits.
Wednesday's decision in federal court closes out the Meade County portion of the case. In the end, a 34-year fight for justice came with $44 million in vindication.
"I finally feel like I am able to wake up from a 34-year nightmare," Clark said in Thursday's news release. "I am beyond thankful to the nine jurors who saw what I have been through."
Warford's true killer has still not been found."
The entire story can be read at:
article_79e807bf-57b0-4df7-8ba5-44f442d0b763.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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. 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.
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
