On October 24th 1987, around 9 p.m., a black man forced his way into the home of a white 69-year old widow in Hickory, North Carolina, brandishing a knife. He raped her on her couch, dragged her to her bedroom and raped her again before leaving through the back door, stealing some fruit from a bowl in the kitchen on his way out. Linda McDowell, a neighbor of the victim and sister of Grimes’ ex-girlfriend, pointed the police to Willie Grimes, knowing of a $1000 reward. During his trial, microscopic hair analysis was used to indicate him and the victim identified him as the perpetrator – after pointing to his attorney first. Eight friends who spent the evening with Grimes gave him an alibi and four other witnesses spoke to his ‘calm’ character with no violent tendencies. Grimes himself pointed out that the victim never mentioned a significant scar on his chest and two missing fingertips. Grimes was convicted by a mostly white jury to life in prison for the rapes and 9 years for the kidnapping. In 2001, when post-conviction DNA testing was established in North Carolina, Grimes sought testing of the hair and was told the evidence was destroyed – although his lawyer had requested it to be preserved immediately after the conviction. In 2003, finger prints taken from fruit in the kitchen were matched to Albert Lindsey Turner who had been a suspect before the informant’s call. In 2010, a petition was filed with the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission and the case and new evidence were given to a tribunal of judges in 2012. The tribunal decided within 30 minutes to vacate Grimes convictions. In the retrial the DA apologized to Grimes instead of a closing argument and he was exonerated. He was awarded $6.2 million in damages in settlements with the city and state.
