DNA tests confirm conviction in 30-year-old rape cases
New DNA tests performed on 30-year-old rape cases in Lawrence confirm the man convicted in the crimes committed them.
Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson announced the findings Tuesday in the case of 46-year-old Charles Hunter.
After a series of attacks, Hunter was found guilty in 1979 on 13 of 14 charges — four counts of rape, two counts of attempted rape, and 7 counts of aggravated burglary.
Hunter, who was 16 at the time of the attacks, maintained his innocence for 30 years.
Then in 2008 — the Defender Project at the Kansas University School of Law and the New York-based Innocence Project paid for the new DNA tests.
Results from lab tests were unable to exclude Hunter from 10 of 12 tests. Samples were not available from two others.
“I reviewed Hunter’s case, and I had faith the justice system had done the right thing in 1979,” Branson said in a statement.
Hunter remains incarcerated at Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility.