Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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NATION & WORLD DNA frees Arizona inmate Associated Press TUSCON, Ariz. - A man whose challenge of evidence in his child molestation case was rejected 12 years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court has been freed from prison after DNA tests proved his inno cence. The tests conducted recently at a police lab determined that semen collected on a cotton swab in the 1983 molestation did not come from Larry Youngblood. “As far as we’re concerned, there’s no uncertainty at all involved in this,” said Walter Tannert, who oversees the Tucson Police De partment crime lab where the test was done. The procedure was not available in 1985, when Youngblood was convicted and imprisoned. Youngblood, 47, was freed Tues day. He had signed a pledge against suing over wrongful imprisonment but said Wednesday he expects to sue anyway. “They took away 17 years of my life, and all the best years,” he said. Youngblood was identified as the attacker by the 10-year-old victim. He appealed on the grounds that authorities didn’t properly preserve evidence that might have exoner ated him, and the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned his conviction in 1986. But the U.S. Supreme Court re versed the court’s decision in 1988, ruling that proof of police negli gence was insufficient to allow someone to contest a conviction unless authorities were acting ma liciously and knew such evidence could prove a defendant’s inno cence. Although Arizona’s appellate court set aside Youngblood’s con viction again in 1990, arguing that the state constitution was broader than the federal government’s, the state Supreme Court reinstated it in 1993.. Youngblood returned to jail and served his sentence concurrently with a five-year sentence for an un related aggravated assault charge filed against him when he was out of prison. He was jailed last year pending trial for failure to register as a sex offender. - • Rick Unklesbay, chief criminal deputy in the Pima County Attor ney’s Office, said officials regret ted what had happened, but acted in good faith. “Based on the testimony of the victim, collaborating evidence and the technology available at the time, everyone felt we had the right per son. Everybody feels bad and it’s unfortunate that Mr. Youngblood spent time incarcerated, but we did what we thought was right at the time,” he said. Some California prosecutors plan to offer free DNA testing to inmates who believe such evidence could clear them. Nationally, DNA evi dence has been used to success fully challenge scores of convic tions since the late 1980s, according to the Innocence Project, which re lief on new genetic tests to revisit old convictions. BEST JOB ON CAMPUS 1 FOR FALL! a USC ANNUALR/ND • Now hiring caliers • PT evening & weekend hours available @ $5.25 to start 119 Byrnes Building •Across from the Horseshoe...777-2985 8-year-old disappears on way home from school Associated Press VALLEJO, Calif. - An 8 year-old girl vanished on her way home from school, stirring memories of the disappearance eight months ago of another girl who lived less than two miles away. Police said there is no evi dence linking the disappearance of Midsi Sanchez on Thursday with that of Xiarta Fairchild, then 7. Midsi was last seen by class mates at 3 p.m. Thursday, stand ing next to a stop sign a few blocks from the home she shares with her parents and four siblings in this city of about 112,000 outside San Francisco. “We’ve been searching around the neighborhood and around the school. The police are all over the place,” said her father, Juan Carlos Sanchez. Family members said the Highland Elementary third grader usually walks home with her 10-year-old brother, but she stayed late to play and was alone when she left school. Xiana vanished Dec. 9 while walking to catch a bus to a dif ferent school, Mare Island El ementary. A federal grand jury in Sacra mento was expected to hear tes timony Friday from Xiana’s mother, Antoinette Robinson, and her boyfriend, Robert Turn bough, who has been questioned repeatedly by police in the case. Summer is Over... ^ Y /ViN keep your Tan! **" ~~ Relax in our Wolff model Genesis II Sundash Beds - with Facial Bulbs—43 bulbs per bed! Private Rooms • Tanning Supplies • Monthly Rates Available 15% Student Discount Year-Round The Tan For All Seasons Beside Richland Mall 782-0830 Open 7 Days A Week 5*5** J Visit our web site at www.tfas.com Columbia 20204 x [I Carolina Alive f "H Open Auditions iLffiH H Guys! Girls! Do you like to: S || SING? DANCE? 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