DNA results have proven that former Akron police captain Douglas Prade is innocent of his wife’s murder. He spent nearly 15 years in federal prison for the crime.
Summit County Judge Judy Hunter ruled that the 66-year-old Prade be set free based on the new evidence. Margo Prade was found shot dead in her minivan in November, 1997. The 41-year-old was a prominent Akron area doctor.
In the 1998 trial, Prade had been sentenced to life imprisonment based on a bite mark on his wife’s body. There were no witnesses or fingerprints and the firearm was never found.
From the PD:
“Based on the review of the conclusive Y-STR DNA test results and the evidence from the 1998 trial, the Court is firmly convinced that no reasonable juror would convict the Defendant for the crime of aggravated murder with a firearm,” Hunter said in the ruling.
This article appears in Jan 23-29, 2013.
Why did it take the State 15 years to finally use DNA to prove someone innocent?
Prosecutors fight to keep DNA out of old cases and Bite Mark evidence is Junk Science like a lot of the CSI crap you see on TV.
If a person was largely convicted on CSI type evidence, they should be allowed at any time in their sentence to give evidence that it is crap or give contradictory CSI evidence. It is the only way this CSI crap is going to be tested to see what is realiable.
The U.S. has the largest prison population and industry in all of human history. Most are non violent, black and Latino. Many. many tens of thousands are innocent. America is no longer the land of the free as even children fear the police. News gun laws will only add more tens of thousands of more mostly Latino and black non violent prisoners. Prisons are everywhere surrounded by barb wire and guard towers, the courts are packed with new captures for the evil satanic machine. Please read warningfromgod and store a one year supply of food. Thank you and have a nice day and watch out for the police in your rear view mirror.
I remember this case and even how it was sensationalized I always thought…Something doesn’t add up and I aint no crime guy…
Stay away from the legal system kids…It’s HORRIBLY broken…