COLUMBIA, S.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court has
agreed to hear the case of a death row inmate from York County who
says he hasn't been allowed to present evidence another man
committed the crime that sent him to death row.
Bobby Lee Holmes, 33, has been convicted twice of killing and
raping 86-year-old Mary Stewart of York in December 1989.
But in those trials, the juries did not hear evidence about a man
who Holmes' attorney says has bragged about raping Stewart for
years.
In legal circles, the issue is called third-party guilt. It's
where a defendant wants to use evidence that someone else committed
the crime.
If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Holmes' favor, he would get a
new trial and the decision could change the South Carolina standard
for admitting third-party evidence.
"If a jury is going to decide if a guy gets put to death or not,
the least we can give them is all the information," said Holmes'
attorney, Bill Nettles.
But prosecutor Tommy Pope, who sent Holmes to death row, said the
evidence should have to rise to a certain level of credibility
before a judge lets it in or it could unfairly confuse a jury.
In the Holmes case, his attorney wants to produce evidence that
37-year-old Jimmy McCaw White told four people he raped Stewart.
In a hearing before Holmes trial, White denied those allegations.
Also DNA from the victim and fibers from her nightgown were found on
Holmes' underwear and a mixture of blood from Holmes and the victim
was found on Holmes' tank top, according to court documents.
"Jimmy McCaw White willingly submitted to a DNA test, and his DNA
is nowhere to be found in the evidence," Pope said.
Nettles said law enforcement officials should have at least
questioned White, but didn't because "they might have found out he
was linked to the crime, and then they would have a mess on their
hands."
"It's in their best interest to look at who they've got charged
and refuse to look at anybody else," Nettles said. "That's not how
investigations are supposed to be done."
