A federal judge has ordered a new trial for Alabama death row inmate Christopher Barbour, as recent forensic testing has cast doubt on Barbour’s original conviction for a 1992 murder in Montgomery.
Barbour, who is now 56, has been on death row for over three decades for the deadly stabbing of Thelma Bishop Roberts. After initially confessing to helping another man rape Roberts before killing her, Barbour later recanted his confession, claiming that he was coerced by police. Barbour’s former legal counsel even alleged that a detective physically assaulted Barbour in order to precipitate a confession.
Now, new DNA testing has revealed that the semen found on the victim’s body belonged not to Barbour or the man Barbour implicated in his initial confession, but to Roberts’ neighbor, Jerry Tyrone Jackson, who is currently incarcerated for a separate unrelated murder.
The new evidence, brought forth during a civil case Barbour filed to challenge his conviction, led Chief U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks to order a new trial. In her decision, Marks found that the state did indeed violate Barbour’s constitutional right to due process under the 14th Amendment, as prosecutors knowingly withheld bench notes from the initial forensics report that excluded Barbour, as well as the man he said raped the victim, as the source of the DNA.
“Barbour has shown that the prosecution’s knowing use of false evidence may have had an effect on the outcome of the trial,” Marks wrote in last week’s ruling.
Barbour will now have a chance to argue his innocence before a new jury, with Marks giving the state 90 days to prepare for the new trial.
According to a spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, the state plans to appeal Marks’ decision.
