Post by CCADP on Jul 31, 2005 17:37:21 GMT -5
Prosecutors say they still have enough to convict Penland again
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - Death-row inmate Rex Dean Penland has won a new trial, but prosecutors still believe they have enough evidence to convict him again for the 1992 rape and killing of a Winston-Salem prostitute.
Prosecutors point to a footprint that they say matches Penland's snakeskin boots and remnants of the brand of cigarettes that Penland smoked, which were left at the crime scene. Taken together, prosecutors claim, such evidence challenges Penland's claim that he was passed out drunk in the truck at the tie of the killing.
Penland was sentenced to death by a Stokes County jury in 1994 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Vernice Alford; the verdict and sentence were upheld two years later by the state Supreme Court. But a judge last week granted a new trial.
New DNA testing of evidence presented at his original trial - blood found on a knife belonging to Penland and a vaginal swab taken from the victim's corpse - raised questions about Penland's guilt but did not conclusively prove his innocence, Superior Court Judge John O. Craig said in the ruling.
Still, prosecutors appear to have believers.
Craig stressed that he believes the state still has "an extremely strong case against Mr. Penland." In addition, Barry Jones of Germanton - a juror in the 1994 trial - said the new DNA test results have not changed his mind about Penland's guilt.
"I look at all the other evidence they had. It was just a monumental amount of evidence," he said. "I don't have any doubts about our verdict."
Defense lawyer Ken Rose, with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, however, said they're hoping to prove his client's innocence. Rose said that the new test results are consistent with Penland's trial testimony.
Penland, 45, of Germanton, has spent 11 years on death row. He was accused along with his nephews Larry and Gary Sapp in the killing. The Sapp brothers said they were with their uncle when he picked up Alford.
The brothers testified that Penland drove Alford to a logging road in Stokes County, a mostly rural county north of Winston-Salem along the Virginia border, where he then raped her, instructed his nephews to tie her to a tree, and then stabbed her to death.
Penland denied taking part in the rape and killing. He said the Sapp brothers lied to protect themselves from getting the death penalty.
Prosecutors said a few pieces of evidence contradict his story, particularly his boots - evidence that they said was so important that they brought them back into court last week.
Barry S. McNeill, a special deputy attorney general, noted that each two-tone boot has a small circular metal plate on the outside of the heel. A casting of a footprint found at the crime scene, McNeill said, shows a circular design consistent with the metal plate on the boot.
"This evidence would be a strong indication that Mr. Penland is guilty," McNeill told the judge.
Penland's lawyers counter that the State Bureau of Investigation report says the castings were insufficient for comparison purposes. The defense says its unfair for the state lawyers to draw conclusions when their experts could not.
Information from: The News & Observer, www.newsobserver.com
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - Death-row inmate Rex Dean Penland has won a new trial, but prosecutors still believe they have enough evidence to convict him again for the 1992 rape and killing of a Winston-Salem prostitute.
Prosecutors point to a footprint that they say matches Penland's snakeskin boots and remnants of the brand of cigarettes that Penland smoked, which were left at the crime scene. Taken together, prosecutors claim, such evidence challenges Penland's claim that he was passed out drunk in the truck at the tie of the killing.
Penland was sentenced to death by a Stokes County jury in 1994 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Vernice Alford; the verdict and sentence were upheld two years later by the state Supreme Court. But a judge last week granted a new trial.
New DNA testing of evidence presented at his original trial - blood found on a knife belonging to Penland and a vaginal swab taken from the victim's corpse - raised questions about Penland's guilt but did not conclusively prove his innocence, Superior Court Judge John O. Craig said in the ruling.
Still, prosecutors appear to have believers.
Craig stressed that he believes the state still has "an extremely strong case against Mr. Penland." In addition, Barry Jones of Germanton - a juror in the 1994 trial - said the new DNA test results have not changed his mind about Penland's guilt.
"I look at all the other evidence they had. It was just a monumental amount of evidence," he said. "I don't have any doubts about our verdict."
Defense lawyer Ken Rose, with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, however, said they're hoping to prove his client's innocence. Rose said that the new test results are consistent with Penland's trial testimony.
Penland, 45, of Germanton, has spent 11 years on death row. He was accused along with his nephews Larry and Gary Sapp in the killing. The Sapp brothers said they were with their uncle when he picked up Alford.
The brothers testified that Penland drove Alford to a logging road in Stokes County, a mostly rural county north of Winston-Salem along the Virginia border, where he then raped her, instructed his nephews to tie her to a tree, and then stabbed her to death.
Penland denied taking part in the rape and killing. He said the Sapp brothers lied to protect themselves from getting the death penalty.
Prosecutors said a few pieces of evidence contradict his story, particularly his boots - evidence that they said was so important that they brought them back into court last week.
Barry S. McNeill, a special deputy attorney general, noted that each two-tone boot has a small circular metal plate on the outside of the heel. A casting of a footprint found at the crime scene, McNeill said, shows a circular design consistent with the metal plate on the boot.
"This evidence would be a strong indication that Mr. Penland is guilty," McNeill told the judge.
Penland's lawyers counter that the State Bureau of Investigation report says the castings were insufficient for comparison purposes. The defense says its unfair for the state lawyers to draw conclusions when their experts could not.
Information from: The News & Observer, www.newsobserver.com