Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Murder suspect cleared after six months in jail
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 | No comments posted.
McMINNVILLE (AP) - A former Dayton man jailed for six months while awaiting trial for attempted murder is free after crime lab tests showed his innocence.
The Yamhill County district attorney's office has dropped all charges against Thomas Aaron Wright, 56, arrested Jan. 13 and charged in the brutal beating of his former landlord, Erwin Hicks III, 52, in December.
Evidence consisted of a metal coat rack with bloody fingerprints containing DNA and Hicks' statement that he believed Wright was the attacker who bludgeoned him and left him outside his Dayton residence in 29-degree weather.
Hicks was in a coma for some time.
He said Wright came to his house the night of Dec. 10 to collect some clothes he had left and that he had received threatening phone calls from Wright.
Wright said he was 70 miles away in Pacific City, had witnesses to prove it, and had made no calls of any kind to Hicks.
Results of fingerprint and DNA tests took months to come back from the Oregon State Crime Lab.
Meanwhile, Chief Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Easterday offered Wright a lie detector test. But Wright said the offer didn't reach him for months. So Wright and his family focused on getting his $500,000 bail reduced.
Wright took and passed a lie detector test the week lab results showed the fingerprints and DNA were not his.
Easterday said the case was drawn out because of a delay in the return of lab results and because the defense was slow on taking up her offer of a lie detector test.
The Legislature sliced the crime lab staff statewide from 135 to 50 people in 2003. Today, there are 109, but the workload has increased as police become more reliant on DNA. The lab is operated by Oregon State Police.
Evidence commonly takes four months to process.
All convicted felons since 2001 have had to submit DNA material for a state data base, and thousands of samples are awaiting entry into the system. About 1,000 more arrive each month.
Lab officials say DNA matches based on the samples often prove the innocence of suspects.
There have been no other arrests yet in Wright's case.
Contacted at his mother's place in Pacific City, Wright was angry and frustrated.
“I'm pretty mad,” he said. “I had to prove my innocence. It was completely ridiculous.”
Wright said he was painting the front door of his mother's house when detectives arrived. He said his mother confirmed his alibi but that he was arrested anyway.
Based on lie detector tests and lab results, he said, his bond was cut to $50,000 and he was freed.
He figured he could attend his daughter's wedding in Florida, for which he had a June 20 flight. But due to the seriousness of the charge, then still pending, he was barred from leaving the state.
Authorities told him they were dropping the case on June 22, too late for the wedding.
The Yamhill County district attorney's office has dropped all charges against Thomas Aaron Wright, 56, arrested Jan. 13 and charged in the brutal beating of his former landlord, Erwin Hicks III, 52, in December.
Evidence consisted of a metal coat rack with bloody fingerprints containing DNA and Hicks' statement that he believed Wright was the attacker who bludgeoned him and left him outside his Dayton residence in 29-degree weather.
Hicks was in a coma for some time.
He said Wright came to his house the night of Dec. 10 to collect some clothes he had left and that he had received threatening phone calls from Wright.
Wright said he was 70 miles away in Pacific City, had witnesses to prove it, and had made no calls of any kind to Hicks.
Results of fingerprint and DNA tests took months to come back from the Oregon State Crime Lab.
Meanwhile, Chief Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Easterday offered Wright a lie detector test. But Wright said the offer didn't reach him for months. So Wright and his family focused on getting his $500,000 bail reduced.
Wright took and passed a lie detector test the week lab results showed the fingerprints and DNA were not his.
Easterday said the case was drawn out because of a delay in the return of lab results and because the defense was slow on taking up her offer of a lie detector test.
The Legislature sliced the crime lab staff statewide from 135 to 50 people in 2003. Today, there are 109, but the workload has increased as police become more reliant on DNA. The lab is operated by Oregon State Police.
Evidence commonly takes four months to process.
All convicted felons since 2001 have had to submit DNA material for a state data base, and thousands of samples are awaiting entry into the system. About 1,000 more arrive each month.
Lab officials say DNA matches based on the samples often prove the innocence of suspects.
There have been no other arrests yet in Wright's case.
Contacted at his mother's place in Pacific City, Wright was angry and frustrated.
“I'm pretty mad,” he said. “I had to prove my innocence. It was completely ridiculous.”
Wright said he was painting the front door of his mother's house when detectives arrived. He said his mother confirmed his alibi but that he was arrested anyway.
Based on lie detector tests and lab results, he said, his bond was cut to $50,000 and he was freed.
He figured he could attend his daughter's wedding in Florida, for which he had a June 20 flight. But due to the seriousness of the charge, then still pending, he was barred from leaving the state.
Authorities told him they were dropping the case on June 22, too late for the wedding.
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Not already registered?
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines