Wednesday, April 09, 2003
Judge Anderson Cromer did the right thing Monday when he signed an order in Forsyth Superior Court permitting the comparison of DNA samples collected more than 18 years ago with a state database of DNA samples.
Darryl Hunt has maintained his innocence in the 1984 sexual assault and murder of a copy editor for Winston-Salem's afternoon newspaper, which closed in 1985.
He has been convicted twice and has lost appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But the evidence against Hunt was never all that compelling. This was a difficult case, and the investigation of it left questions in many minds. For many who followed the trials and appeals, Hunt became a symbol of justice denied.
Through the miracle of science, it is possible that DNA comparisons can identify a different assailant. DNA testing has already ruled out Hunt as the source of semen in the assault, but a judge has ruled that this fact alone does not eliminate Hunt as a suspect in the murder, or even as a participant in the sexual assault.
Still, a positive identification of an assailant not connected in any way to Hunt would, even if that assailant could not be found or had died, sprinkle doubt on the conviction.
It's a long shot, as even Hunt's attorneys will concede if pressed. If the state database of 40,000 samples doesn't turn up a match, the FBI database of 1.2 million samples might. Both may now be searched.
Hunt's attorneys hope that identification of another suspect will allow at least a third trial for Hunt. They believe that such an ID should be grounds for setting Hunt, now serving a life sentence and eligible for parole in 2005, free.
When the searches will be conducted hasn't been determined.
This has been a brutal ordeal for Hunt, if he's innocent, and for the family of the victim.
The prosecutors in the case did not object to the motion for DNA comparisons. Clearly, there is a chance that the wrong person has been in jail for the past 18 and more years.
That leaves an open question in the case, and every effort ought to be made to close it.
Americans live under a rule of laws, not people. Public trust in the justice system and the equal status of all defendants before conviction is essential to the survival of the society. Ensuring that trust is a goal not always achievable, but it is a goal that must always be pursued.