DNA Releases Man After 25 Years

How do we give people back their lives? Especially when they were just children....

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — A man who spent more than two decades in prison for the slaying of an 89-year-old woman walked into the Vigo County Courthouse shackled to three other prisoners and walked out a free man after a judge agreed with prosecutors that DNA evidence exonerated him.

Vigo Superior Court Judge Michael Lewis ordered the release of David L. Scott on Monday during a brief hearing.

“Mr. Scott, you’re free to go,” Lewis said. Scott nodded his head as the judge ordered his release.

Scott and his relatives did not make public comments and avoided reporters after leaving the courtroom.

Scott, 39, had been serving a 50-year prison sentence for the 1984 murder of Loretta Keith, who was bludgeoned to death in her bed with a hydraulic jack. Authorities said that DNA testing not available in 1984 — including analysis of blood found on a nylon stocking at Keith’s home — cleared Scott.

Prosecutors said the DNA test results showed that Kevin Mark Weeks, 44, of LaGrange, Ky., was the person who killed Keith. Weeks was arrested Friday, and was still being held in the Shelby County, Ky., jail on Monday. Jail officials said they did not know whether Weeks had an attorney.

“This all happened so fast,” said Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt, who filed a joint petition with Scott for his release. “The number one priority was to get Weeks in custody, then to get Scott released. Now the investigation will continue.”
The Indy Star