Appeals Court lifts stay - Darryl Howard to be released in 20-year-old Durham murder case
DURHAM (WTVD) -- The North Carolina Court of Appeals lifted a stay Tuesday, meaning 52-year-old Darryl Howard can go free on bail 20 years after a double murder conviction marked by misconduct from Durham police and the prosecutor disbarred over the Duke lacrosse case.
Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson agreed to bail on Friday, but the case was put on hold while the Appeals Court decided if he has jurisdiction in the case.
Hudson previously ruled there was no physical evidence connecting Howard to the 1991 murders of a woman and her 13-year-old daughter - and overturned the conviction. The state must now decide if they will re-try him.
Howard was sentenced to 80 years in prison for strangling 29-year-old Doris Washington and her daughter, 13-year-old Nishonda, then burning their apartment. Both showed evidence of rape.
But at Howard's trial, former Durham prosecutor Mike Nifong and a police detective told jurors there was no evidence of sexual assault.
New DNA tests implicate another suspect.
