Man Cleared of Murder by DNA Test Leaves Prison After Nine Years

Through two trials and almost nine years in prison, part of that time on Death Row, Kirk Bloodsworth insisted that he was not guilty of the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl. On Monday, he walked out of prison a free man, thanks to DNA testing.

The testing of semen on the girl’s underpants had indicated someone else committed the crime.

“Fantastic!” Bloodsworth yelled, thrusting a fist in the air and waving to a small crowd of relatives and supporters outside the Maryland House of Correction.

He began sobbing when he spoke of his mother, who died five months ago not knowing about the DNA testing.

“That was the blow that nearly put me over the edge,” said Bloodsworth, 32, of Cambridge, Md. “But she knew that her son was not a killer, and I vowed not to give up.”

Baltimore County Circuit Judge James T. Smith Jr. overturned Bloodsworth’s conviction and ordered him freed during a five-minute hearing earlier Monday. Prosecutors said they would not seek a new trial.

Bloodsworth and his attorney, Robert Morin, said they thought he deserved to be compensated for his time in prison.

“Nobody can make up for nine years lost for something they did not do, but they should try,” said Bloodsworth, who had no previous criminal record.

County State’s Atty. Sandra O’Connor said she would not apologize for Bloodsworth’s conviction. “Everything that was done was done correctly,” she said.

“I am not prepared to say that he is innocent . . . but we do not have enough evidence to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt.”

County police said the case of the killing of Dawn Hamilton would be reopened, but O’Connor said there are no suspects.

Bloodsworth was convicted and sentenced to die for the girl’s July, 1984, murder in the Baltimore suburb of Rosedale. She was raped, beaten and strangled.

The case was based on three witnesses who said they saw Bloodsworth with the girl shortly before she disappeared, Morin said.

Bloodsworth, who was living in the area when the slaying occurred, insisted he never met the child.

The Maryland Court of Appeals granted Bloodsworth a new trial in 1986 because the prosecution withheld evidence from the defense concerning another suspect.

Bloodsworth was convicted at the second trial and sentenced to three consecutive life terms.

Morin took over the case when the appeal of the second conviction was turned down. As a long-shot last year, he asked that key physical evidence be re-examined using a more sophisticated type of DNA testing.

A tiny semen spot was discovered on the girl’s underpants by a California laboratory, Forensic Science Associates, which determined that the semen was not Bloodsworth’s, Morin said.