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CNN Live Today

Detroit Prisoner Exonerated by DNA

Aired August 27, 2002 - 10:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a test of the legal system. For the first time in 17 years, Eddie Joe Lloyd awoke this morning as a free man, exonerated by a DNA test that proved that he did not commit the rape and murder that sent him to prison.
We get more details now from reporter Bill Gallagher of our affiliate from Detroit, WJBK.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL GALLAGHER, WJBK CORRESPONDENT: Eddie Lloyd offers an enthusiastic thank you when he was set free after more than 17 years in prison for a crime he never committed. Lloyd was convicted of the 1984 rape and murder of 16-year-old Michelle Jackson. DNA tests proved Lloyd's innocence.

EDDIE JOE LLOYD, FORMER PRISONER: If Michelle Jackson spoke from the grave, she would have told everybody, Eddie Lloyd didn't do it, and then she would identified who did do it. But unfortunately, Ms. Jackson couldn't speak from the grave. But modern man and forensic science did what she couldn't do, that's speak from the grave.

GALLAGHER: Lloyd had contacted Detroit police telling them he had information about the murder. Lloyd suffers from bipolar disorder, and he was in a mental hospital when he confessed.

MICHAEL DUGGAN, WAYNE COUNTY PROSECUTOR: I believe the Detroit Police Department genuinely believed that he was guilty.

GALLAGHER: Lloyd says he confessed believing he was helping police smoke out the real killer. He was first person in Michigan to be exonerated by DNA evidence. Attorney Barry Scheck who heads the Innocence Project used the DNA evidence to help spring Lloyd. He points to poor legal representation for Lloyd's conviction. Scheck says it is a good thing Michigan abolished the death penalty long ago, and the nation should follow suit.

BARRY SCHECK, INNOCENCE PROJECT: Certainly, when you look at the record in this case, the issue of the death penalty arises and whether or not it makes sense to have a moratorium.

GALLAGHER: Police now have a DNA profile of the real killer. Eddie Lloyd is going to spend time with his family. He says the years in prison made him a better man.

LLOYD: I learned discipline, OK? And number two, I embraced patience. (END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Thanks to Bill Gallagher of our Detroit affiliate WJBK for that report.

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