Two men who have each served 30 years behind bars have had their convictions overturned after they were exonerated by newly-discovered DNA evidence. A North Carolina judge has ordered that Henry McCollum, 50, and his half-brother Leon Brown, 46, be immediately released.
The pair were convicted over the 1983 killing of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie in Robeson County. The girl's body was found in a field, naked except for a bra pushed up against her neck. Lawyers campaigned for the release of the two men following the discovery of DNA from a cigarette butt at the scene which pointed to another man.
That man has been serving a life sentence for a rape and slaying which took place less than a month after Sabrina's death. The 74-year-old man lived near the field where Sabrina's body was found. Sharon Stellato, associate director at the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, testified that the commission interviewed the 74-year-old man three times.
Rotterdam, 03/09/2014-INC News
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