In 1982, Nicholas Yarris was convicted of the murder, rape and adduction of Linda May Craig, an employee of the Tri-State mall in Pennsylvania. In 2003, Dr. Edward Blake conducted a final round of testing on evidence found at the scene. Nicholas Yarris was excluded from all biological material connected with this crime by these tests.
On September 3rd, 2003, based on Dr. Blake's results, the court vacated Yarris's conviction and he became the 140th person in the United States to be exonerated by post conviction DNA testing - the 13th DNA exoneration from death row and the first ever in Pennsylvania.
Lawsuit: Prosecutors Withheld Evidence
The lawsuit filed by Yarris Aug. 11, 2004 claims that authorities purposely hid evidence from his defense lawyer before his trial — including the existence of a pair of gloves investigators believed had been worn by the killer. The lawsuit alleges the gloves were too small for Yarris' hands.DNA evidence from the gloves was found to belong to an unidentified person, not Yarris, it Dr. Blake's 2003 testing.
"Twelve people convicted me in 1982," Yarris told reporters. "I want to put myself before 12 people now and say, 'This is what the truth really is,' and see what they think."
"I was a 20-year-old junkie," he said. "At some time authorities realized that it wasn't me who committed the murder. They had every chance to do the right thing in this case, and they didn't."
