wfn.org | Presbyterians split hairs to free man unjustly convicted of rape

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Note #6114 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

11-July-2000
00251

	Presbyterians split hairs to free man unjustly convicted of rape

	Couple raised money for 5 years to pay for tell-tale DNA testing

	by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Rev. George Edwards, a former seminary professor, and
his wife, Jean, didn't expect to devote their retirement years to splitting
hairs. But that's what they have been doing for the past half-decade.

	In 1995, the Louisville couple started raising money for DNA testing of a
strand of hair that they hoped would prove William Thomas Gregory innocent
of the rape and attempted rape of two Louisville women in 1992. Gregory, who
had always claimed to be innocent, was convicted and sentenced to 70 years
in prison.

	Science eventually proved to be a lifesaver, when a DNA test of hairs
recovered from a stocking mask — key evidence in the case — proved that the
hairs were not from Gregory.

	On July 5, Gregory was released from Northpoint Training Center in Burgin,
Ky., after more than six years behind bars. He is the first person in
Kentucky to be freed from prison on the basis of new DNA evidence.
	
	"I am so happy," said Gregory, 52. "I was shocked when I heard (I was being
released). I was numb all over."

	Gregory also is the first person ever released from custody solely as a
result of mitochondrial DNA testing, which involves extracting DNA from
human cells. The technology was not available during the 1993 trial.

	"God has set me free, and I love him with all my heart," Gregory said, "and
I know he loves me."

	The Edwardses raised $5,000 to pay for two tests of the hair.

	"It's just unbelievable," Jean Edwards said after Gregory's release. "We're
so excited. We couldn't be reassured (about Gregory's innocence) until the
second test came back from Pennsylvania. We're so happy."
	
	George Edwards, 80, graduated from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological
Seminary in 1951 and returned there as a professor of New Testament and New
Testament Greek from about 1957 to 1985, when he retired. He and Jean have
worshiped for nearly a quarter-century at Central Presbyterian Church, whose
members helped raise money to free Gregory.

	"We're not well-to-do people. We're retirees," said George Edwards, who
said he was "very exalted" by Gregory's release. "It was five dollars here
and fifteen dollars there, until we finally, after many years of effort,
collected a total of $5,000."
	
	The Edwardses forwarded the money to the non-profit Innocence Project in
New York City, which provides free legal help to inmates challenging their
convictions on the basis of DNA evidence.

	 The project is headed by former O.J. Simpson lawyer Barry Scheck and his
partners. Results of the most recent of two DNA analyses performed at a
Pennsylvania laboratory in August indicated that the hair was not from
Gregory. An earlier test, performed at another lab, was inconclusive.

	"If it wasn't for those good people and the parishioners (at Central
Presbyterian) I wouldn't be standing here right now," said Gregory, who
devoted most of his first day of freedom to a succession of media
interviews. The Edwardses served as his chauffeur.

	In March, after Innocence Project attorneys entered a motion for a new
trial, the state spent more than $9,000 for mitochondrial DNA testing of
five other hairs from the stocking the assailant wore as a mask. They turned
out not to belong to Gregory, who worked for Sears and also ran his own
business installing home-entertainment equipment before he went to prison.

	The hairs could not be tested at the time of Gregory's trial because the
DNA test used at that time required a hair's root, and the hairs found in
the stocking had no roots. In mitochondrial DNA testing, a technology
developed after the trial, DNA can be extracted from a hair shaft.

	Jefferson County (Ky.) Circuit Judge Barry Willett vacated Gregory's
sentence on July 5 and ordered a new trial. But Commonwealth's Attorney Dave
Stengel said he won't retry Gregory, who was released on his own
recognizance, if  the DNA tests can be confirmed.

	"The system failed me a long time ago," said Gregory, a West Virginian who
says he isn't bitter about his incarceration. "But now there are things in
place for where the system can work."

	George Edwards, who hadn't ever met Gregory, became interested in the case
after serving as a volunteer instructor in elementary New Testament Greek at
the Kentucky State Reformatory in LaGrange. Prisoner Cullen Ray, one of
Edwards' best pupils at the reformatory, met and befriended Gregory after
being transferred to the Northpoint Training Center, where Gregory was doing
his time.

	Ray, believing that Gregory was innocent and that DNA testing would prove
it, corresponded with Edwards, and eventually persuaded him to help. The
Edwardses started collecting money for the testing, and didn't stop until
the test results were in hand.

	"We sent out letters, we raised money through word of mouth and over the
telephone," George Edwards said. "The Mennonite Church in Paoli, Ind.,
contributed. Some individuals and church groups gave, including a Catholic
church here in Louisville from their benevolence fund."

	Edwards said members of Central Presbyterian Church, other Presbyterians
and an Episcopal minister also contributed to the fund.

	Emerson Abts and his wife, Helen "Mike" Abts, were among the Central
Presbyterian members who provided financial and moral support.

	"We have the feeling that DNA is a wonderful tool and a gift of God," said
Emerson Abts, a retired Methodist minister who has worshiped at Central
Presbyterian for a decade with his wife, a Presbyterian. "The DNA testing,
it's in the same class as fingerprints. It's a marvelous thing. Yesterday's
result is just an indication of how marvelous it is."
	
	While the DNA-related prison release was the first in Kentucky, Gregory was
the 74th inmate in North America to be freed from prison because of new DNA
evidence. The science of forensic DNA testing was invented about 10 years
ago; since then, the technology has matured and testing has become more
accurate.

	DNA evidence also was pivotal for eight of the 87 Death Row inmates who
have won freedom since the 1970s. DNA has helped opponents of the death
penalty — which the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted in 1976 — demonstrate
that some prisoners are sentenced to die although they are innocent.

	The eight-year-old Innocence Project, a pioneer in the use of DNA evidence
in capital cases, has a backlog of about 1,000 cases.

	Central Presbyterian member Linda Meadows, who helped raise money to pay
for the hair tests, said she is thankful that Gregory was fortunate enough
to be exonerated through DNA.

	"Wonderful!" she said. "It feels real good. In today's world we need more
of that."

	Since his release, Gregory has been warmly embraced by the community.
Donors have given him an apartment, clothing and cash. He has been besieged
by media requests for interviews, and has appeared on ABC-TV's "Good Morning
America" and on Louisville-area news programs.

	"I'm beginning to bond with the community," Gregory said recently. "The
community is all for me in the respect that they are putting themselves, and
their families, in my place. That if it was their son, their daughter ... in
prison that was innocent, they would want the same justice done."

	Gregory was a guest at a lasagna dinner at Central Presbyterian immediately
after his release, and also took part in a Bible-study session. He said he
may join the congregation.

	 Meanwhile, he's campaigning for wider use of DNA testing in the pursuit of
justice.

	"It feels good in the respect of getting the message out," he said.
"Speaking for a lot of the innocent people who are in prisons all across the
United States. When you go to prison, you lose your credibility. My
credibility is good at this particular point, and God is using it (as) a
voice for all those people who are in prison that need a voice."

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