Lexington Herald-Leader | 08/02/2002 | Former Death Row inmate acquittedClick
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Back to Home > Lexington Herald-Leader > Friday, Aug 02, 2002
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Posted on Fri, Aug. 02, 2002
Former Death Row inmate acquitted
TESTIMONY OF DROWNED WITNESS NOT ALLOWED IN RETRIAL
By Bill Estep
SOUTH-CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU
A Whitley County man made the stunning turnaround from one-time
Death Row inmate to freedom yesterday after a jury acquitted him of
murdering an elderly couple.
Larry Osborne, now 22, was convicted in December 1998 of the double
killing on the strength of statements from a friend who testified to
a grand jury but drowned before the trial.
The Kentucky Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2001, ruling
that it was improper to use the grand-jury transcript at the trial.
That also meant the testimony could not be used against Osborne at
his retrial, crippling the case against him.
Osborne and his court-appointed attorneys were elated. "We felt like
our client was an innocent person and the jury verdict was the
correct one," said Tim Arnold, an attorney with the state Department
of Public Advocacy.
Osborne had been jailed without bond since he was arrested more than
four years ago. He now faces the task of readjusting, including
finding a job and a place to live and getting used to freedom.
"He has a long road he has to travel to get back on his feet," said
Arnold, who defended Osborne along with Gail Robinson and James
Norris.
He said he didn't know what kind of work Osborne wants to do.
Attorneys were trying to help Osborne find a place to stay last
night. One consideration is that there is a good deal of hostility
against Osborne in Whitley County, Arnold said.
As part of their efforts to get the trial moved out of Whitley
County, defense attorneys argued that more than half the local
residents they interviewed thought Osborne was guilty.
Commonwealth's Attorney Allen Trimble was not available for comment
last night.
Relatives of the slain couple remain convinced that Osborne is the
killer. Family members were upset.
"Two good people are dead and the community is at risk of a
double-murderer that's already beat the system once," said Susan
Davenport, the couple's daughter-in-law.
The crime occurred late on a night in December 1997 when someone
smashed a window and broke into the home of Sam and Lillian
Davenport in southern Whitley County. The couple -- she was 76; he
was 82, a World War II veteran -- were bludgeoned in the head but
died of smoke inhalation after the assailant set fire to the house.
Police quickly focused on Osborne, then 17, as a suspect, in part
because his mother called 911 that night to report her son had heard
glass breaking at the Davenport home as he rode by on a small
motorcycle. Police considered the call suspicious -- an effort to
provide an alibi.
Joe Reid, 15, a friend who said he was with Osborne that night, told
police Osborne broke into the couple's house and later came out with
a "pocketful" of cash.
Reid gave sworn testimony to a grand jury, which indicted Osborne on
charges of murder, robbery, burglary and arson. Osborne's mother
also was charged with helping set fire to the Davenports' house. She
has not been tried.
Reid drowned several months before Osborne's trial.
Osborne's attorneys objected to having Reid's testimony used at
trial, arguing it was hearsay because the dead teen could not be
cross-examined. Reid changed his story several times during police
interviews, defense attorneys said.
Circuit Judge Paul Braden allowed prosecutors to present much of
Reid's statement, however. The jury convicted Osborne, and Braden
followed its recommendation for a death sentence.
The state Supreme Court overturned Osborne's conviction in a 7-0
opinion in April 2001.
Not having access to Reid's testimony left Trimble "not a whole lot
to work with," Susan Davenport said yesterday.
One piece of physical evidence was a pair of wire-cutters police
found on a table outside Osborne's bedroom. Sam Davenport, the dead
couple's son, said he recognized the tool as one he'd seen at his
father's house.
Trial testimony raised questions about the identification of the
tool, however, Arnold said.
Osborne's case has been a rallying point for opponents of capital
punishment because he was sentenced to death for a crime committed
as a juvenile. Opponents have tried without success to get the state
legislature to abolish the death penalty for juveniles.
Death penalty opponents have also argued that Osborne's case
illustrates how an innocent person can be sent to Death Row despite
weak evidence.
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