Sunday, December 21, 2003
New evidence in the 1984 murder case that has divided Winston-Salem along racial lines for more than 19 years brought new fire and passion yesterday from groups of white and black supporters of Darryl Hunt.
They said that Hunt, imprisoned for all but nine months since 1985 for the murder of Deborah Sykes, is innocent and should be released from prison.
The reaction from the groups ranged from guarded elation that a new suspect had been identified through a DNA comparison to angry accusations against prosecutors and police.
In separate gatherings yesterday, a group of white ministers and the Darryl Hunt Defense Committee both called for the Winston-Salem Police Department and Forsyth District Attorney Tom Keith to step aside and allow the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the case a second time.
The Rev. Carlton Eversley, a spokesman for the Darryl Hunt Defense Committee, said that Hunt's release would end his "19-year nightmare of unjust, unfair, inaccurate and racist incarceration" for a crime he didn't commit.
"The hands of the police and prosecution in this case now drip with the blood of Mrs. Sykes," Eversley said. "(They) are stained with the semen of the mysterious Mr. X, whose DNA directly matches that found in Mrs. Sykes, and their lips have leaked a series of lies, manipulations, falsities and innuendos for almost two decades."
Keith did not return telephone calls yesterday requesting further comment. Keith's comment Friday that the new suspect was the third person who authorities had long said they believed was involved in the attack on Sykes helped set off the furor among Hunt's supporters, who say they believe that the police and prosecutors have ignored signs pointing to his innocence.
Hunt, 38, is serving a life sentence in prison for his conviction in the rape and murder of Sykes in August 1984. State authorities said Friday that they have a new suspect after the state crime lab in Raleigh made a positive match between the new suspect's DNA and a semen sample recovered from Sykes.
Hunt had been ruled out as a source of the semen in 1994, but had failed to win a new trial based on those results.
April Hunt, Darryl Hunt's wife, said that her husband is happy about the new evidence and hopes that he will be released from prison.
"He has put his trust in God," she said. "It's been too long. He needs to come home."
However, some people involved in Hunt's two trials said that the new evidence did not change their opinion that Hunt was involved in Sykes' murder.
"I feel like Darryl Hunt did it from the (trial) testimony," said Earl Biggers, a retired Winston-Salem detective who helped reinvestigate the murder in 1989 and 1990. "I have no doubt in my mind."
Don Tisdale, the original district attorney to prosecute Hunt in 1985, said he thought that Hunt was one of several people involved in the attack.
He said that it was revealing that Hunt's attorney, Mark Rabil, turned down an offer by the Winston-Salem Journal to give Hunt a lie-detector test as part of the newspaper's eight-part series on the case published last month.
"That was very telltale when they turned the polygraph down," Tisdale said.
Tisdale said that if Hunt passed an independent, trustworthy lie-detector test, he would consider helping to get clemency for Hunt.
Sykes, a 25-year-old copy editor, was raped and stabbed to death on her way to work in the downtown Winston-Salem offices of The Sentinel, the afternoon newspaper that closed in 1985. Hunt is black, and Sykes was white.
At yesterday's news conference, a group of 15 mostly white ministers gathered at Wake Forest University.
The Rev. Laura Spangler said that the Hunt case has been one of the most racially divisive episodes in the city's history, and that new DNA evidence shows that Hunt was unjustly convicted.
"Now for the first time in nearly 20 years, we have scientific evidence that should lead to the truth and justice," said Spangler, the pastor of the Lloyd Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem. That would provide healing to the families of Sykes and Hunt, she said.
"In order to obtain the truth and justice that will lead to that healing, what is needed is a fair and impartial investigation of this case by an independent agency," she said in front of Wait Chapel. "We have gathered ... because our confidence in the criminal justice system has been badly shaken."
The Rev. Richard Groves, a pastor of Wake Forest Baptist Church, said that there should be a new investigation, and it should be done by the SBI because Keith violated an agreement he had with the N.C. Attorney General's office, a Superior Court judge and Hunt's attorneys not to release any new evidence in the case.
"We feel that this shows that the district attorney is following the mistakes and injustices of the past," Groves said.
At the second news conference, members of the Hunt defense committee gathered at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Winston-Salem to demand that he be released from prison.
Police Chief Linda Davis did not return telephone calls requesting comment on the call for her department to give up the case.
City Manager Bill Stuart declined to comment on whether the SBI should investigate the case. He did say that city officials want to do "whatever it takes for an impartial and fair investigation."
"As days come forward, if it is proved that (an SBI investigation) is needed, then that can be discussed," Stuart said.
N.C. Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Forsyth, said she hopes that new evidence will help Hunt.
"It's been said that this doesn't clear Hunt, but it gives us reason to be hopeful," Parmon said. "There have been instances where the justice system did not work. I'm hopeful that this information will lead to him being cleared and show that there's justice for all."
Fred Flagler, the managing editor of The Sentinel at the time of the murder, said that the new evidence might clear Hunt.
"If they can find the person who did it and free Hunt that would be wonderful," said Flagler, reached by telephone in Florida.
"If they got a DNA match, I would think it would help, but a lot of things you think are going to help, don't help."
• John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or jhinton@journalnow.com
• Journal reporters Theo Helm and Titan Barksdale contributed to this story.