Journalist’s Killer Pleads Guilty, Gets Life
From Times Wire Reports
A man pleaded guilty in Winston-Salem to raping and stabbing a newspaper copy editor to death in 1984 -- a crime for which an innocent man spent 18 years behind bars.
Willard E. Brown, 44, was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years for the slaying of Deborah Sykes, 25, under a plea bargain that allowed him to avoid a death sentence.
Darryl Hunt, the man wrongly convicted, was released from prison and exonerated after DNA testing tied Brown to the crime.
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