A man who has been in prison for decades will be released soon from jail, according to Wyandotte County authorities.
The Wyandotte County District Attorney agreed to a motion for a new trial in the Lamonte McIntyre case. A request for a new trial was granted, and the district attorney’s office then declined to pursue a new trial, a spokesman said.
An evidentiary hearing was held this week in Wyandotte County District Court for McIntyre, who had been arrested at age 17 in 1994 and charged with a double murder. McIntyre was convicted and spent 23 years in prison.
Evidence was brought forward that exonerated McIntyre. The Midwest Innocence Project was involved in the effort for McIntyre, with testimony heard from those who believed he was innocent. The defense of McIntyre questioned tactics, testimony and methods used in his case in 1994. A retired judge from another city heard the case this week.
The case attracted much media attention, and a rally for McIntyre was held in front of the courthouse on Oct. 12.
The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s spokesman issued a statement on the case today.
According to the statement, information that has become available recently may have caused jurors to have reasonable doubt as to McIntyre’s guilt, had the information been presented during the 1994 trial.
“With this information in mind, and my duties as a minister of justice, today I asked the court to find that manifest injustice exists and as a result Mr. McIntyre’s case was dismissed,” Mark Dupree, district attorney, stated in the news release.
The district attorney’s office is not admitting or agreeing that any individuals or authorities engaged in any wrongdoing in this case, according to the statement.
The request for a new trial was granted, and then the district attorney’s office declined to pursue a new trial, resulting in McIntyre’s being a free man, according to the spokesman.
The district attorney’s news release also stated, “In seeking to pursue the interests of justice, the question that I must instead determine as District Attorney is whether the unanimous jury verdict in 1994 might have been different if the information presented to my office was available for consideration during the deliberation. It is incumbent upon my office to ensure the process we employ to bring about that justice is done in such a way that due process is provided to all accused, no matter how many years have passed.”
The district attorney’s statement said the prosecutor’s job is “to pursue justice, not simply convictions.”