Who is darryl hunt

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As the years passed, his friends watched the work take a toll on Hunt. Over the past few years, Hunt fell upon a period of increasing hard luck that started with a divorce from his wife. Soon after, Hunt left town for metro Atlanta in search of his long-lost sister.

After finding her, Hunt rented a house in Jonesboro, Georgia, where he stayed with his sister and her teenage kids, all while he underwent treatment for prostate cancer. Upon moving back, he discovered his assets had been frozen, which led to the repossession of his truck due to a missed payment. As that happened, his cancer had advanced to a Stage IV prognosis. In the last month of his life, Hunt traveled to the University of Virginia for a speaking engagement at its public policy school.

Tragedy of Darryl Hunt: how exonerated man came to take his own life. Their identification of Darryl was shaky at best. Later, she recanted her testimony against Darryl. Darryl testified that he did not know Deborah Sykes and had no involvement with the crime. Darryl was sentenced to life in prison, because of that single juror who refused to make it a unanimous vote for death.

Prosecutors offered Darryl a deal. He could be freed by pleading guilty and accepting a sentence of the five years he had already served. He refused to admit to a crime he did not commit. Darryl was retried for murder, and again sentenced to life in prison. They convicted Hunt and he was sentenced to life in prison. On appeal, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned the conviction because prosecutors had introduced Hunt's girlfriend's statements after she had recanted them.

Hunt was released on bond in With the trial pending, Prosecutors offered Hunt a plea bargain — he could be freed and sentenced to time already served five years in exchange for a guilty plea.

Hunt rejected the offer and faced a second trial. He was retried in rural Catawba County before an all-white jury. The main eyewitnesses from the first trial testified again, and two jailhouses snitches testified that Hunt had admitted guilt to them while in prison.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours and convicted Hunt of first-degree murder. Again, he was sentenced to life in prison. He had been free for 11 months. Post-Conviction Hunt's original trial attorney, Mark Rabil, worked on the case for nearly 20 years. After the second conviction, in which Rabil was part of a larger defense team, Rabil and another attorney, Ben Dowling-Sendor, filed for DNA testing in the case.

In October , DNA results came back. Hunt's DNA did not match the semen found on the victim's body at the crime scene. Despite the results, however, Hunt's appeals were rejected.