Something About Justice From The Washington Post: Federal prosecutors agreed Tuesday that a Washington man imprisoned for 20 years for rape is innocent and they acknowledged scientific errors in his case after DNA evidence proved that another man committed the crime. Kirk L. Odom will become the second District man in two months and the third in three years to have his conviction for rape or murder overturned because of erroneous hair matches claimed in court by FBI forensic experts .... .... Odom, 49, served his sentence and was released from prison in 2003. He was convicted of raping, sodomizing and robbing a 27-year-old woman before dawn in her Capitol Hill apartment in 1981. However, court-ordered DNA testing revealed in January that the hair fragment in his case could not have come from Odom. Further DNA testing of stains on a pillowcase and robe indicated that only another man, not Odom, could have committed the crime. U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen minced no words. "More than 30 years after Mr. Odom's conviction, DNA testing reveals that he suffered a terrible injustice," he wrote. "The United States expresses its profound regret for the harm suffered by Mr. Odom, and requests that this Court immediately vacate Mr. Odom's convictions and dismiss the indictments against him with prejudice." The apparent guilty man is a convicted sex offender who will not be charged because the statute of limitations has passed. In May, a Superior Court judge dismissed the murder conviction against Santae A. Tribble, 51, after DNA tests disproved testimony at his trial from an FBI hair expert linking him to the 1978 killing of a District taxi driver. In December 2009, Donald E. Gates was exonerated of a 1981 rape and murder in Rock Creek Park — again after DNA tests ruled out a hair match claimed by the FBI. Somehow, "At least they finally got it right," just doesn't seem enough. Still, score one for justice. Or three. I don't think "junk hit" is fair. Screw the baseball metaphor. Whatever. ____________________ Notes: Hsu, Spencer S. "Kirk Odom, who served 20 years for 1981 D.C. rape, is innocent, prosecutors say". The Washington Post. July 10, 2012. WashingtonPost.com. July 11, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/2012/07/10/gJQAUjZNbW_story.html
