July 25
NORTH CAROLINA:
Judge orders new trial for death-row inmate Rex Penland
In Danbury, a reluctant Stokes County judge on Monday ordered a new trial
for Rex Penland, who was sentenced to death 11 years ago for the 1992 rape
and murder of Winston-Salem prostitute Vernice Alford. "I'm not real happy
about this," Superior Court Judge John O. Craig said. "I'm not sure I
agree with this completely."
But Craig said a 2001 state law allowing cases to be reopened based on new
DNA testing left him no choice.
"The result might well be the same the second time around, in fact, the
probability is it will be the same," he said.
Penland, 44, was sentenced to death following his conviction on charges of
1st-degree murder, rape, sexual offense and kidnapping in the Dec. 9,
1992, slaying of Alford.
In motions filed with the court, Penland's attorneys said newly tested DNA
evidence shows their client is innocent. That argument has been rejected
by prosecutors, who counter that Penland's attorneys are overstating the
evidence's significance.
At Monday's hearing, Stokes County Prosecutor Jimmy Yeatts urged Craig not
to follow what he called "the DNA rabbit."
"There is nothing better this defendant would like you to do than chase
this DNA rabbit - it could have been this way, it could have been that
way," Yeatts said. "This is a tremendous setback for truth that was handed
down in this courtroom on March 1, 1994."
Ken Rose, one of Penland's attorneys, said after the hearing the defense
has additional evidence that also raises questions about the state's case
and Penland's guilt.
"I think there are substantial questions about whether they got the wrong
person," Rose said. "We have other evidence calling into questions the
Sapp brothers' testimony."
Penland's conviction was largely based on the testimony of his twin
nephews - Gary Sapp and Larry Sapp Jr. - who said they were with their
uncle when he picked up Alford, a waitress and prostitute in
Winston-Salem.
The Sapp 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 murder, testifying he was drunk
and passed out.
At his 1994 trial, the state said the current technology did not allow the
recovered semen to be typed for DNA, while there was not enough blood on
Penland's knife to test it for DNA. Last year, a judge in Stokes County
ordered the sperm and blood samples be newly tested in light of "advances
in the science of DNA testing."
In his filing with the court, Rose said DNA testing shows that the only
blood on Penland's knife was his own and that Penland's semen was not
present in a swab taken from Alford's corpse.
Under a 2001 state law passed to assist people wrongly convicted of crimes
in clearing their names, a court may vacate a judgment, discharge the
defendant, re-sentence the defendant or grant a new trial if
post-conviction DNA testing results are favorable to a defendant.
Barry McNeill, the Attorney General's Office's chief death penalty lawyer,
said afterward he plans to consult with local prosecutors before deciding
whether to ask the state Supreme Court to review Craig's decision. In the
meantime, Penland will return to the state's Central Prison in Raleigh.
Two other North Carolina inmates convicted of murder have recently been
set free. In late 2003, DNA evidence helped clear Daryl Hunt of a 1984
Winston-Salem murder, leading to his release from prison and a
gubernatorial pardon last year.
Last year, a jury acquitted Alan Gell, a death row inmate who was retried
for the 1995 killing of Bertie County man after it was revealed
prosecutors withheld key evidence that would have helped his defense.
(source: Associated Press)
