WASHINGTON – A District of Columbia judge has declared that a 50-year-old man is innocent of a 1982 rape and slaying that put him in prison for 25 years.
Kevin Martin was issued a certificate of actual innocence on Monday following a more than 12-year effort to clear his name.
Martin entered an Alford plea in 1984 to one count of manslaughter while armed in the rape and killing of 19-year-old Ursula Brown. That’s a form of guilty plea in which a defendant does not admit wrongdoing but agrees the government has enough evidence for a conviction. He also pleaded guilty to two armed robberies in which he admitted his involvement.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says DNA evidence later revealed that Brown was the victim of a serial rapist.
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