http:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article63564927.html<\/p>\n
MARCH 2, 2016 12:05 PM<\/p>\n
After 23 years in NC prison, Howard Dudley embraces his freedom<\/strong><\/p>\n The Kinston man had turned down earlier offers that required guilty plea<\/p>\n Dudley: \u2018The only thing I had to fight with was the truth\u2019<\/p>\n Judge: \u2018This cries out as an injustice to Mr. Dudley\u2019<\/p>\n BY JOSEPH NEFF<\/p>\n jneff@newsobserver.com<\/p>\n KINSTON<\/p>\n Before leaving the Lenoir County jail on Wednesday afternoon, Howard Dudley threw his prison uniform on the floor, raised his arms and walked over the clothes.<\/p>\n These were his first steps as a free man in 23 years.<\/p>\n A judge had just freed Dudley, ruling that he had no confidence in the 1992 trial in which the Kinston man was convicted of sexually assaulting his 9-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n Outside the jail, in the crush of family, friends, lawyers and cameras, Dudley smiled broadly and thanked God, his family and his lawyers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing I had to fight with was the truth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Then Dudley faltered as he remembered his wife and mother, both of whom died while he languished in prison. A sister and sister-in-law struggled to hold Dudley up as his knees buckled.<\/p>\n Dudley, 59, served nearly 24 years for the alleged assault. On Wednesday, he testified that he turned down a plea deal that would have freed him in 1992 because he refused to admit to any wrongdoing when he was innocent.<\/p>\n \u201cI want my name cleared,\u201d Dudley said. \u201cThese type of charges are very bad charges. I didn\u2019t commit any of these acts. I need healing, and so does Amy.\u201d<\/p>\n Dudley\u2019s daughter, Amy Moore, had testified at his trial that he had sexually abused her, the only evidence against him. She was 9 at the time. But on Tuesday, Moore told Superior Court Judge W. Douglas Parsons that her previous story was false.<\/p>\n Mental health experts testified that Moore suffers from a host of mental health issues: depression, mental retardation, anxiety disorder and psychotic episodes. Moore is easily led, and her statements to police and social service workers were unreliable, the witnesses testified.<\/p>\n Dudley\u2019s lawyers said she is wracked with guilt from the lies she told that locked up her father for more than two decades.<\/p>\n \u201cHoward Dudley and Amy Moore have been in different prisons for 23 years,\u201d said Spencer Parris, a lawyer for Dudley. \u201cWe request freedom for Howard, and by that, freedom for Amy.\u201d<\/p>\n Assistant District Attorney John Newby said the judge should respect the original guilty verdict.<\/p>\n \u201cThis case came down to credibility,\u201d Newby said. \u201cIn April 1992, 12 jurors were selected. They listened to all the evidence, deliberated and found the defendant guilty. They were in a better position than this court to decide the case.\u201d<\/p>\n An \u2018outrageous\u2019 violation<\/strong><\/p>\n In throwing out Dudley\u2019s conviction, Parsons focused on three flaws in his trial.<\/p>\n \u25aa Dudley never received copies of social services and court records showing that Amy Moore had given wildly inconsistent and improbable versions of the alleged assault.<\/p>\n \u201cI found this to be an egregious, possibly outrageous \u2026 violation,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cThis cries out as an injustice to Mr. Dudley.\u201d<\/p>\n \u25aa Parsons said he was convinced that Moore\u2019s 1992 testimony was false.<\/p>\n \u25aa And he said Dudley\u2019s trial lawyer failed his client. Nick Harvey had been practicing law full time for just one year. Harvey spent just 27 hours preparing for a trial that carried two potential life sentences. He filed no motions and did not consult any expert witnesses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe basically went into trial naked,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cThe result is not surprising to me.\u201d<\/p>\n A family reunion<\/strong><\/p>\n Earlier in the day, Dudley shuffled to the witness stand in ankle chains and testified in a soft voice.<\/p>\n He said that he turned down several chances for freedom \u2013 a plea deal in 1992, prison programs that allowed early release \u2013 for a simple reason.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not a child molester. I have never been one, and I will never be one,\u201d Dudley said.<\/p>\n Dudley\u2019s plight was the subject of a 2005 News & Observer series, \u201cCaught in a Lie.\u201d The stories revealed problems with the case and explored Dudley\u2019s life in prison.<\/p>\n The Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke took up Dudley\u2019s case, and in June, Superior Court Judge Paul Jones ordered the hearing that started Tuesday.<\/p>\n Dudley was the final witness at his evidentiary hearing, a minitrial of sorts where his lawyers aimed to prove that he was wrongly convicted.<\/p>\n \u201cI love my daughter Amy,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope that soon I will be able to hug her neck and tell her I love and forgive her.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore, however, was not in court Wednesday, so their reunion would wait. Dudley\u2019s first stop: Bojangles\u2019, for fried chicken covered with Texas Pete.<\/p>\n \u201cWow,\u201d Dudley said. He stared at the menu board, almost paralyzed by the dozens of choices.<\/p>\n The woman running the counter asked: Would you like a Supreme?<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that will work,\u201d Dudley said. \u201cWhatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n After Dudley sat down to eat, three dozen family members launched a a pop-up party.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to go home and sleep in a bed,\u201d Dudley said. \u201cAnd not look at a fence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" http:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article63564927.html MARCH 2, 2016 12:05 PM After 23 years in NC prison, Howard Dudley embraces his freedom The Kinston man had turned down earlier offers that required guilty plea Dudley: \u2018The only thing I had to fight with was the truth\u2019 Judge: \u2018This cries out as an injustice to Mr. Dudley\u2019 BY JOSEPH NEFF jneff@newsobserver.com […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-textcache"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2017,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions\/2017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}