Chicago Defender: New DNA tests end life sentences for 2 convicted....

[Tweed]

New DNA tests end life sentences for 2 convicted in 1990 murder
http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=401

"More than a decade after two men were sentenced to life in prison for the sexual assault and murder of a Chicago woman, prosecutors dismissed the charges Monday and set one of the men free, saying new DNA testing had failed to link them to the crime.

Dan Young Jr., now 44, left the state prison in Pontiac Monday afternoon. The other man convicted in the 1990 attack, Harold Hill, 31, has three years left to serve in an armed robbery case, said Cook County State's Attorney's spokesman John Gorman.

The murder and assault charges were dropped after a series of scientific tests - some of which were not available when the two men were arrested and convicted - failed to link Hill or Young to the slaying of Kathy Morgan, 39, whose raped and strangled body was found in an abandoned building on the city's South Side after a fire, Gorman said.

"Following an extensive re-examination of all the evidence in this case, including exhaustive and expensive DNA testing, we have reached the conclusion that we would not be able to sustain our burden of proof if this case were to be retried," State's Attorney Richard Devine said in a statement."

Perhaps with occurences like this happening on an almost daily basis, you would think that the death penatly would get abolished.