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| DNA Clears Idaho Death Row Inmate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/03/2001 |
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Death row inmate Charles Irvin Fain was ordered immediately released from prison recently after DNA tests refuted evidence that he was involved in the 1982 slaying of 9-year-old Daralyn Johnson. Canyon County Prosecutor David Young said at an earlier news conference that he would not pursue a new trial on first-degree murder charges. Fain spent 17 years on death row after being convicted for Johnson's kidnapping, sexual assault and drowning. Despite Young's contention Fain might still be tied to the crime, his defense attorney said he does not think Fain client will face new charges. Much of the case against Fain rested on the opinion of an FBI forensics expert who testified that pubic hairs found in Daralyn's socks and underwear may have been Fain's. Recent breakthroughs in DNA identification prompted a forensic laboratory to conclude in June the crucial pubic hairs were not his, but those of an unknown person. In normal DNA identification, genetic material is taken from the nucleus of human cell samples. Human hair historically has presented a problem because it has no nucleus. Hair does, however, contain mitochondria -- a material found within cells that only recently became testable for DNA. |
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