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Leo Waters |
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Incident Date: 3/31/81 Jurisdiction: NC Charge: Rape, Sexual Offense, Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon Conviction: Rape, Sexual Offense, Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon Sentence: Life |
Year of Conviction: 1982 Exoneration Date: 11/20/03 Sentence Served: 21 Years Real perpetrator found? Yes Contributing Causes: Eyewitness Misidentification Compensation? Yes |
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In
1982, Leo Waters was convicted of rape, sexual offense, and robbery with a dangerous
weapon. On November 20, 2003, the State of North Carolina dismissed all charges
against him after DNA testing proved that he was not the perpetrator of the
crimes.
The Crime
The victim in this case had advertised a waterbed for sale in a Jacksonville,
North Carolina, newspaper. On March 31, 1981, a man called at about 9:00AM and
expressed interest in looking at the bed. He arrived at the victim’s house over
an hour later and looked at the bed. They went first to the basement to look at
part of the bed and then upstairs to look at the rest of the bed. When the
victim entered the bedroom and turned around, the man pulled out a gun and
threatened to kill her. He taped her hands behind her back, taped her eyes
shut, gagged her with her underwear, and tied her feet together. He vaginally
raped her and wiped her off with a towel. He then stole some jewelry and left.
The Identification
The victim gave police a full description and viewed numerous photographic
arrays. She was hypnotized in April 1981 in an attempt to bolster her memory of
what the perpetrator looked like and details about the car he drove. She picked
Leo Waters from the third array that the police showed her in August 1981.
Waters had been arrested on minor unrelated charges. The photograph showed
Waters’s head and shoulders. The victim said she could not be sure of her
identification unless she could see the person’s full body. She viewed Waters
at the courthouse days later and positively identified him.
The Biological Evidence
Spermatozoa were found on items in the rape kit collected from the victim,
including the vaginal swab. Serological testing revealed blood type antigens
consistent with type O blood. Both Waters and the victim were type O. The
victim’s husband was type A. The laboratory performed further serological
testing for other blood group markers and was able to narrow down the
population fo potential donors of the semen to 35.5 percent of the adult white
male population. Waters could not be excluded from this population.
Post-Conviction
Attorney Mark Raynor took on the Waters case in February 2002. Waters had
already applied for postconviction DNA testing on his own. Access to the
evidence was secured and STR DNA testing was performed by Laboratory
Corporation of America in January 2003. Waters was excluded as a potential
contributor of the spermatozoa. He was granted a new trial and was released
from prison. Raynor filed and application for a Pardon of Innocence with the
governor’s office.
In October 2003, The district attorney submitted the evidence for replicate
testing at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Laboratory. The
results of STR DNA testing confirmed the initial results: Waters could not have
been the rapist.
On November 20, 2003, all charges against Waters were dismissed. In August
2005, governor Michael Easley granted Waters a full pardon.
Sheffron
Law Firm, P.A.