North Carolina death row inmate freed after newly discovered evidence

An inmate on death row in North Carolina has been freed after newly discovered evidence in his case led him to plead to lesser charges. 

According to the Charlotte Observer, Michael Wayne Sherrill, 65, left prison on Wednesday evening after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, second-degree rape and second-degree arson charges related to the 1984 death of Cynthia Dotson.

Sherrill was convicted in 2009 and served more than 16 years in prison. Under the state’s sentencing laws he was eligible for release for time served after pleading to the lesser charges, the Observer reported.

Prosecutors said they still believed Sherrill was responsible for Dotson’s killing, but that he had been released “in the interest of justice.” They also said they were pleased Sherrill had admitted to his responsibility by pleading guilty to the lesser charges.

Dotson had been stabbed 13 times in the chest and raped when her body was discovered in her partially burned trailer.

The Observer reported that there were a number of issues with Sherrill’s original conviction, however, despite Sherrill’s DNA being found at the scene. For example, a missing fingerprint was taken at the scene, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police had destroyed a rape kit the year after Dotson’s death that had material collected from her body.

Sherrill was sentenced to death in 2009 over Dotson’s killing, according to a report from The Winston- Salem Journal at the time. He was arrested 25 years after her death, when detectives said they found DNA linking him to the crime.