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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered a new trial
for an Alabama death row inmate after tests showed it was
another man's DNA on the victim's body.
Chief U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks last week ruled that
Christopher Barbour must get a new trial.
Barbour, now 56, was convicted of the 1992 stabbing death of
Thelma Bishop Roberts in Montgomery. Barbour initially confessed
that he killed Roberts after helping another man rape her, but
he later recanted and said his confession was coerced by police.
He has maintained that he is innocent.
New DNA testing done in 2021 revealed that semen on the victim's
body didn't belong to either man. It belonged to Roberts'
neighbor who is now incarcerated for an unrelated murder.
His attorneys argued in an earlier court filing that “Mr.
Barbour’s innocence is patently clear."
Marks said that Barbour’s conviction was tainted because
prosecutors did not turn over bench notes from the initial
forensics report that excluded Barbour, as well as the man he
said raped the victim, as the source of the DNA. That
information, Marks said, could have used to cast doubt on
Barbour’s confession, which was the primary evidence against him
at trial.
"Barbour has shown that the prosecution’s knowing use of false
evidence may have had an effect on the outcome of the trial,”
Marks wrote.
The state had argued that the DNA results do not exonerate
Barbour. A spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall
said the state plans to appeal the decision.
The ruling came in a civil case that Barbour filed challenging
his conviction on the grounds that his rights were violated.
Marks gave the state 90 days to begin preparations for a new
trial.
Marks did not rule on Barbour’s innocence claim but wrote that
he can now “argue as much to a jury.” Marks wrote in a ruling
last year that the new DNA information “is powerful evidence
that Barbour’s confession is false, and that Mrs. Roberts’
murder did not occur as the prosecution presented it at trial.”
Barbour has been on Alabama's death row since 1994.
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