On November 15, 1984, 5-year-old Jerrod Hessling witnessed the beating, rape, and stabbing death of his babysitter. When asked to describe the killer, he said, without hesitation, that it was a white male. Another child present during the murder saw a white man’s tattooed arm reach inside the house to open a sliding glass door.

Yet somehow, the lawyers in the case determined that Kenneth Clair, a dark-skinned African American homeless man who had been squatting next door, was the killer. When Jerrod saw him on the witness stand and insisted they had the wrong man, the prosecution chalked it up to youth and trauma, and pursued the death penalty for Kenneth Clair. To this day, 31 years later, Mr. Clair sits on San Quentin’s death row, awaiting his execution date.

But that’s not the biggest bombshell in this case — in 2008, forensic testing revealed that DNA found on the murder victim did not match Clair’s. DNA taken from a glove found at the scene also did not match. It matches another individual, but the Orange County District Attorney insists that “confidentiality is required” concerning this evidence, and for 7 years now, the identity of the person whose DNA does match the swab has remained a secret.

In the interest of justice, we must call on the Orange County DA and California state lawmakers to demand that the DNA evidence be turned over to Kenneth Clair’s defense.

Since his conviction, Clair has struggled with ineffective counsel. He wanted his lawyers to work at investigating the crime, rather than simply trying to free him from death row, but they never did. His plea for substitute counsel even made it to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012, and he did eventually receive a switch of counsel. Finally, he is being represented by people who are dedicated to his exoneration.

But their hands are tied without this crucial DNA evidence, and more of Clair’s precious life is wasting away in prison as they fight to obtain it.

Please sign petition and call Mr. Rackauckas at 714-834-3952 if you feel that the disclosure of the identity of a possible “person of interest” is something that the prosecution should not be allowed to withhold.

More articles about the California Orange County Prosecutor’s Office:

Thousands call for release of man taken off death row for 1984 Santa Ana murder – http://abc7.com/1187404/

California Orange County District Attorney’s Investigator Beats Up Defense Attorney

According to an article in the LA Times, The D.A.’s investigator grabs defense attorney James Crawford’s head and slams it into a bench and then punches him 10 times in the face and head.  The article said that despite the horrible beating, no arrests were made to the D.A.’s investigator.  click here to read…

Experts: No Hope For Justice In Orange County Prosecutor Scandal With Current Investigations – click here to read…