Death-Row Inmate Freed After Judge Finds Detectives Withheld Evidence
A North Carolina death-row inmate was freed from prison yesterday after a judge determined investigators mishandled his case and prosecutors decided against a retrial.
Glen Edward Chapman had served 14 years for the murders of two people before he was freed. Chapman’s lawyer said his client’s only link to the murders was his sexual relationship with one of the victims, the Associated Press reports.
A judge ruled in November that that detectives in the case withheld exculpatory information. The lead detective did not tell prosecutors that a witness had identified a different man as the person he saw shortly before a fire at the house where one of the victims was discovered. And detectives did not reveal witness statements that said one of the victims was seen alive with a person who had a history of violence against her in the days after the date she supposedly was murdered.
Chapman’s first meal on release was a bologna and cheese sandwich, a favorite that his mother used to make for him. He said he is shocked but he feels good.
“I have no bitterness,” he told AP. “I feel a lot better without it. I think I’ll prosper better without it.”
