herman may
13.5 Years Lost
Cause of Conviction:
Rape; Sodomy
County: Franklin
Trial/Plea:
Trial
Race: White
Year
1988
Sentence:
40
Time Served:
13.5
Date Sentence Vacated: September 18, 2002
Reason Sentence Vacated: DNA testing; Improper ID
Cause of Wrongful Conviction:
Eyewitness misidentification
Herman May was convicted of rape and sodomy and received a 20 year sentence in 1990. He was exonerated in 2002 after serving 13 years, more than half of his sentence.
The victim in May’s case described her attacker to police immediately after the rape occurred. She described a man in his 20s or early 30s that had long, greasy dark brown hair. Later, at the hospital, she gave the same information but described his hair as chocolate brown. May did not fit either description – he had striking red hair and was only 18 when the rape occurred.
After May was arrested for another matter, the investigating detective called the victim, who was in California on a pre-planned vacation. The detective asked the victim if he could fly to California to show her a photo lineup. She agreed, so the detective flew to California and showed the victim a photo lineup that included May’s picture. The victim first picked three from the lineup as looking like the man that attacked her. She finally picked May from those three and later identified May in court.
After all other avenues were exhausted, KIP recovered the physical evidence and sought requested DNA testing. After the initial tests excluded May, the Commonwealth requested testing on all of the physical evidence. After months of testing, the Franklin Circuit Court ruled that if the results were presented to a new jury, a different verdict was likely. The court ordered May’s immediate release from prison and granted him a new trial.
Despite inconsistency between the victim’s description at the time of the offense and Mr. May’s appearance, and the fact that the DNA evidence points to an unidentified third party as the attacker, Franklin County prosecutors continue to maintain that May is the guilty party.