PARIS, Texas (AP) - A Texas man who spent the past eight years in prison will receive a new trial after a DNA test showed that blood on the suspected murder weapon didn't belong to the stabbing victim, a judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Eric Clifford's ruling sets aside Danny Holloway's manslaughter conviction and 20-year-sentence. He has been in state prison since 2002 for the stabbing death a year earlier of 17-year-old Ashley Lee during a brawl outside a seedy hangout in Paris, about 90 miles northeast of Dallas.
Tests conducted last year on the bloody knife prosecutors say was used to kill Lee do not match her DNA profile, according to court records.
"I cannot think that the knife introduced (into evidence) would not have had some influence on the jury," Clifford said.
Holloway's bond was set at $75,000. He was returned to the Lamar County Jail.
Lamar County District Attorney Gary Young said he disagreed with the ruling, which he acknowledged caught him "off guard." Though Texas leads the nation with 40 DNA exonerations, this is the first time a judge in this rural area has set aside a conviction based on DNA testing.
Young said he is considering an appeal but added that he is ready to continue to a retrial. Seven eyewitnesses testified that Holloway stabbed Lee, Young said.
"When he claimed self-defense, that's saying `I did it,"' Young said. "Does it really matter what knife you used?"
John Stickels, Holloway's attorney, said the knife was key to his client's conviction.
"The knife was proved by the state to be an essential element of the crime," said Stickels, a criminology professor at the University of Texas-Arlington. "There is a reasonable probability that if not for this knife, Holloway would not be convicted."
Holloway, 32, a wiry man with a buzz cut and thick eyeglasses, sucked in his breath sharply and appeared to blink back tears as he listened to the judge Thursday. He was clad in an orange jail jumpsuit, and his cuffed hands were shackled to a belt around his waist.
Holloway's family in attendance, including his 11-year-old son and 14-year-old stepson, marveled at what they said was his changed demeanor. He was solemn throughout the hearing, his face rarely changing expression.
"He used to be so happy-go-lucky," said his stepfather, Daryl Royston.
The ruling brought a sense of guarded hope to Holloway's family, who believes in his innocence and had been seeking his outright exoneration. But it brought fresh pain to Lee's mother, Paula Lewis, who believes her daughter's killer was rightly jailed. She cried and looked down at her hands.
Later, Lewis said she thinks about her daughter every day, and that the girl "had a lot of good in her." Lee had her GED diploma and held a part-time job.
"Time does make it easier," said Lewis, 50. "But this right here, it seems like it is starting all over."
Holloway was at a Paris hangout known as the Old Folks Home the night of the stabbing in July 2001. Witnesses say Holloway and another man were arguing, leading to a fight in the parking lot. Several of those involved, including Holloway, brandished knives, according to court testimony.
Lee, a bystander, was stabbed in the melee. Holloway escaped from the scene with minor injuries with the help of his common-law wife. Before they could leave the parking lot, however, their window was smashed in, according to court records.
Holloway and some eyewitnesses who testified at trial say he fought with a pocketknife, while others say he had a large knife with a wooden handle. According to court records, prosecutors displayed it to jurors and described it as "a Rambo knife with cuts on the back of the blade."
The Rambo knife, which was later subjected to the DNA test, was found in Holloway's car with a rag wrapped around its handle. His prints were not on the knife.
Stickels said he believes the knife was planted in the car in the confusion of the fight or later on and that someone else accidentally stabbed Lee.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
