Kerry Porter
14 Years Lost
Cause of Conviction: Murder
County: Jefferson
Trial/Plea:
Trial
Race: African-American
Year
1996
Sentence:
60 years
Time Served:
14 years
Date Sentence Vacated:
December 19, 2011
Reason Sentence Vacated: Evidence that another person committed the offense
Cause of Wrongful Conviction:
Eyewitness misidentification
Porter was convicted of the 1996 shooting death of his ex-girlfriend’s husband, where the only evidence left at the crime scene was the remnants of a homemade silencer. Porter’s conviction was based solely on the testimony of one eyewitness, who identified Porter a month after the crime when the victim’s brother showed him a picture. Another witness who saw the shooter flee the scene told police that he could not possibly identify the perpetrator. No physical evidence tied Porter to the murder. Additionally, the judge blocked defense attorneys from telling the jury that there was another suspect in the case.
In 2010, an informant/cooperating witness for the government told a detective and two prosecutors that Porter was innocent and another man was the real perpetrator. However, this testimony was withheld from Porter’s defense attorneys. The only eyewitness also recanted his testimony, stating that Porter should be freed.
DNA testing was not readily available or reliable at the time of Porter’s trial, prompting the Kentucky Innocence Project to request testing be completed on the silencer 14 years later. In 2011, DNA analysts were able to identify male and female DNA profiles from the silencer, and Kerry Porter’s DNA was excluded as being a contributor.
With help from KIP, Porter’s case was finally reexamined by Sgt. Denny Butler of the Louisville Metro Police Department’s cold-case unit. Multiple interviews were conducted with witnesses, and they all stated that another man committed the murder. Consequently, two likely alternate suspects have been identified in the case. In December of 2011, a Circuit Court judge ordered the 1998 indictment against Porter to be dismissed.
For more information on the case:
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3823