Two weeks ago, Chris Conover walked away from prison and a life sentence because new DNA testing had disproved prosecutors' contention that two of his hairs were found at the scene of a 1984 double murder.
Now, Conover's lawyers and other legal experts are questioning why prosecutors are not taking steps to find out whose hair was, in fact, on the body of 18- year-old Lisa Lynn Brown.
This is not the first time defense attorneys have been frustrated by what they see as Baltimore County prosecutors' reluctance to re-examine DNA evidence after it has overturned a conviction.
Ten years after DNA testing cleared Kirk Bloodsworth in the rape and murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton of Rosedale, police have not run the evidence through state or national DNA databases of felons - databases set up to solve such crimes.
"When a prosecutor agrees to dismiss murder charges against someone they thought committed the crime, their ethical duty to seek justice requires testing forensic evidence with every person in the criminal databank," said Douglas L. Colbert, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Prosecutors said they asked Baltimore County police to run the DNA that cleared Bloodsworth through the database this year - nearly nine years after the state set up its first DNA database of sex offenders and 10 years after Bloodsworth was exonerated.
Prosecutors said they have checked the DNA against new suspects in the case and rejected criticisms that they have not been fully investigating the murder.
"This prosecutors office has been for at least 28 years known as one of integrity and as one that has been very concerned about people's safety," said Baltimore County State's Attorney Sandra A. O'Connor.
She listed several reasons prosecutors had not asked police to run the DNA before this year: Police had fresher cases to deal with, for example, and prosecutors were already using the DNA to check individual suspects in the case.
S. Ann Brobst, who prosecuted Bloodsworth, said she could not provide information about the number of suspects tested because "it is an open investigation."
Convinced of guilt
In Conover's case, prosecutors said they will not ask any law enforcement agency to check the DNA against the database because they are convinced he is guilty. As proof they point to the Alford plea that Conover signed to secure his release, in which he maintained his innocence but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him of armed robbery.
