You’ve followed our coverage of the capital murder trial of Lester Kearney, an innocent man subjected to a vendetta by a District Attorney bent on putting somebody away for a horrific crime – even if he has the wrong man.
Last week, after a lengthy trial, the death-qualified jury split 7 to 5 – seven jurors voting for acquittal and five voting for a guilty verdict. The judge declared a mistrial and the DA has declared the case to be non-capital. He plans to try again, but without seeking the death penalty.
The results of this trial reflect the profound insufficiency of the State’s case against Mr. Kearney. The case rested solely on a cross-racial eye-witness identification of an elder man who had awoken from sleep and had suffered a head injury during the crime. Mr. Kearney’s photo had been leaked to the media prior to the identification, so he was primed to identify him. Meanwhile, a mountain of evidence shows Mr. Kearney was elsewhere at the time of the incident.
Emancipate NC released a statement, which was covered in WRAL.