30 YEAR OLD RAPE COVICTIONS CONFIRMED BY DNA TESTING

03/03/2009
PRESS RELEASE RELEASE DATE: 03/03/09 CONTACT INFO: Charles Branson Douglas County District Attorney 785-841-0211 cbranson@douglas-county.com 30 YEAR OLD RAPE COVICTIONS CONFIRMED BY DNA TESTING Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson announced today his receipt of a report of laboratory examination from the DNA testing facility that reviewed DNA evidence of convicted rapist and former Lawrence resident Charles C. Hunter, 46. In 1979 Hunter was 16 years old when he was charged with rape, attempted rape and aggravated burglary. His court appointed attorney waived his right to a jury trial and District Court Judge James Paddock found Hunter guilty of 13 of 14 charges. The charges were four counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape and seven counts of aggravated burglary. Hunter maintained his innocence for 30 years and his case was taken up in 2008 by the University of Kansas School of Law Defender Project in conjunction with the New York based Innocence Project. Last year The Defender Project filed a motion in Douglas County District Court requesting untested biological evidence in the case be examined. The Project paid for testing on the evidence that had been held by Lawrence Memorial Hospital. DNA testing was unavailable at time of Hunter's trial. The laboratory's testing was unable to exclude Hunter from ten of the 12 tests. DNA was not found in two slides and therefore a comparison to the reference sample (Hunter) could not be made. Branson stated, "I was not surprised by this report. I reviewed Hunter's case and I had faith the justice system had done the right thing in 1979. My faith was upheld, Hunter was our rapist." -30-

Media Contact:
Cheryl L. Wright-Assistant to the District Attorney
District Attorney's Office
785-841-0211
cwright@douglas-county.com