Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 18, 1993 TAG: 9304180124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Medium
DNA EXONERATES HIM, BUT . . .
Walter T. Snyder Jr. has spent nearly seven years in prison - close to 2,500 days and just as many nights - for a rape that prosecutors now say he didn't commit.Convinced by a DNA test that eliminated Snyder as the rapist, Commonwealth's Attorney John E. Kloch joined the prisoner's lawyer and parents in their bid to win his freedom.
On Feb. 23, Kloch wrote Gov. Douglas Wilder, requesting that he grant Snyder executive clemency. Wilder has yet to respond.
The prosecutor endorsed the findings in Snyder's case that a recent DNA test, which included a new analysis of semen samples taken from the victim after her rape in 1985, showed another man was responsible.
But Snyder, 26, remains behind bars at the Nottoway Correctional Center, and his lawyer, Peter J. Neufeld of New York, is frustrated by the continuing delay.
"We're talking about proof that you've got the wrong man in prison," Neufeld said. "We have a case here where the government is saying he's innocent and after two months he's still sitting in jail."
But aides to Wilder say any clemency plea should be examined carefully before an inmate is released.
"People think you can snap your fingers and change the court verdict," but it's not that simple, said Walter A. McFarlane, the governor's counsel. "If that were so, people would lose faith in the courts."
"If there was a mistake made we will correct it," McFarlane said.
Though still controversial, DNA testing - designed to identify a person's unique genetic code through analysis of hair, blood, skin or semen samples - has won increased acceptance in courts nationwide.
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a large molecule containing the pattern of genes that makes each person unique.
DNA tests have exonerated at least a half-dozen defendants after they were convicted, says Neufeld, a leading spokesman on the issue for the defense bar.
In December, Kerry Kotler ended an 11-year stay in prison after a Suffolk County, N.Y., court held that a DNA test cast more than reasonable doubt on his rape conviction.
"The Kerry Kotlers and the Tony Snyders are . . . the tip of the iceberg," Neufeld said.
Snyder's trial featured the testimony of the rape victim, who lived in an apartment building across the street from the defendant's home.
The woman identified Snyder as her attacker, even though she had been unable to do so positively when shown his picture in a photo lineup 12 days after the rape.
The prosecution also offered results of scientific tests on semen found in the victim showing that the rapist and Snyder had the same blood type, which is shared by roughly 30 percent of the male population.
Following the conviction, Snyder's family read about how British police used DNA testing to identify the man who raped and killed a teen-age girl in a rural village.
Once the test became available in this country, the Snyders spent several years trying to persuade lawyers to set one up.
The lawyer handling Snyder's appeal advised against it, arguing the test would only solidify the prosecution's case.
"We had nothing to lose," recalled Snyder's father, Walter T. Snyder Sr., a postal worker from Alexandria. "He didn't do it so we fired that lawyer and got another."
Eventually, the Snyders learned about a new method for testing DNA that enables analysis of extremely small and old samples, even saliva on an envelope.
The Snyders' troubles getting others to feel the same urgency about their son's plight didn't end.
The test conducted by CBR Laboratories near Boston eliminated Snyder as a suspect in the case. But the Snyders' lawyer, busy with other cases, took more than three weeks to inform them of the results after receiving them Dec. 10.