Nashville DA rejects another conviction
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District Attorney Glenn Funk. Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP Photo
For the second time this month, the Nashville district attorney's office is rejecting a decades-old murder case.
- After reviewing the evidence against defendant Claude Garrett, who has served nearly 30 years for a 1992 murder, a team of prosecutors said in a new report that it was "wholly impossible to maintain confidence in Garrett's conviction."
Why it matters: The Garrett case is the latest example of the power held by Nashville's conviction review unit, which District Attorney Glenn Funk launched in 2017.
- The unit has repeatedly identified — and sought to remedy — mistakes made by previous prosecutors.
- Earlier this month, the unit recommended exonerating two people convicted for a 1987 rape and murder.
Driving the news: Garrett was charged with murder after investigators said he started the house fire that killed his girlfriend, Lorie Lance, in 1992.
- Garrett was convicted in 1993. After his first trial was overturned for unrelated issues, he was convicted again in 2003.
Yes, but: Garrett's attorneys say key evidence against him was based on "junk science."
- The conviction review unit poked holes in the evidence in its own 51-page report.
The details: Garrett's conviction relied on analysis from a fire investigator who identified burn patterns in the house consistent with arson.
- But years later, experts began to embrace new research showing some fires could mimic those burn patterns without being arson.
- That research has "formed the basis for overturning numerous arson convictions in similar cases," the conviction review unit wrote in its report.
Between the lines: The Intercept has reported extensively since 2015 on Garrett's case, pointing toward many of the same issues identified by his defense attorneys and the conviction review unit.
The bottom line: The unit's report stated that while the new information did not conclusively establish Garrett's innocence, it shed enough doubt on his guilt to justify vacating the conviction.
What's next: Garrett's legal team, which includes the Tennessee Innocence Project and the federal public defender's office, filed a motion Monday to toss out the conviction.
- In a simultaneous filing, Funk notified the court that he supported the move.