DNA scandal leads to plea deal that frees Colorado murder suspect from custody


DNA scandal leads to plea deal that frees Colorado murder suspect from custody

A suspect in a decades-old murder and rape in Weld County could be released from jail as early as Friday after the district attorney there "very reluctantly" agreed to a plea agreement because key DNA evidence in the case was compromised by an embattled Colorado Bureau of Investigations forensic analyst.

It is believed to be the first case in the state where someone has been freed in the wake of the ongoing scandal centering on CBI scientist Yvonne Woods, along with overall procedures in the forensic lab.

Woods, once the state's go-to expert in DNA analysis, has been found to have intentionally deleted, altered or skipped steps in her testing and conclusions in hundreds of criminal investigations across Colorado dating back to 1994.

In Weld County, James Herman Dye was initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the November 1979 rape and strangulation of Evelyn Kay Day. The case remained unsolved for 42 years until the summer of 2020, when Woods, who goes by Missy, conducted DNA testing of a belt from the victim's coat, bodily fluids and fingernails that had been stored in evidence. She concluded it linked the crime to Dye.

He will now be freed, his defense attorney said in court on Friday, because a DNA retest of evidence revealed that Dye's DNA was not on the murder weapon.

Dye, who has a lengthy criminal record, was arrested in Kansas in 2021 and has been held in the Weld County Jail ever since. His trial was scheduled for July 2025.

On Friday, Dye, now 68, pleaded no contest to felony manslaughter. The two counts of first-degree murder were dropped as part of the plea deal. He was sentenced to 977 days on the manslaughter charge but given credit for time already served, which meant he would be released from custody immediately.

"This plea bargain is unusual," acknowledged Weld County District Judge Marcelo Kopcow. "I understand and recognize and appreciate the challenges that the prosecution has in being able to prove the original charges beyond a reasonable doubt, given the lapse of time, given issues that rose with regards to DNA (and) Ms. Woods' testimony."

"This is not justice," the judge added at the hearing Friday, according to a recording provided to The Denver Gazette, "but I understand that, based on the state of the evidence, there's a sense of justice that our community is getting."

Michael Rourke, Weld County District Attorney, said in an interview on Friday with The Denver Gazette that he felt he had no choice but to offer the plea because Woods was no longer a credible witness because of what he called her "malfeasance."

He said she could no longer be called as a witness in the case, and a substitute expert cannot testify about her findings.

"Do we run the risk of a jury acquittal or dismissal because of inability to admit evidence," he told The Denver Gazette.

Weld County's Chief Deputy District Attorney Steven Wrenn said during Friday's hearing that, although the outcome of the case was "unsettling" and "unsatisfying," he did not see a path for taking the case to trial given the issues with Woods.

"We had to factor in the betrayal of one of our own, CBI agent Woods," Wrenn said. "Her involvement in this case presented undeniable hurdles to the presentation of evidence."

In the weeks after the CBI scandal was made public in November 2023, Rourke said his office asked CBI to retest what Woods had tested previously. He said Friday that retesting is ongoing and some of the results are similar.

Featured Local Savings

But at the hearing Friday, Jennifer Ahnstedt, Dye's public defender, said the original testing by Woods and the retesting done later showed differing results regarding the DNA found on a coat belt that was used to kill the victim.

"Last night, we got a report that said Mr. Dye and Mr. Day were both excluded from the murder weapon," she told the judge.

Stanley "Chuck" Day, the victim's husband, now deceased, was once also considered a suspect by law enforcement.

"The reality is that Ms. Woods' behavior was not only a betrayal to the government," Ahnstedt said at the hearing, "but also had very negative impacts on Mr. Dye."

Dye, seated in a wheelchair, declined to give a statement at the hearing.

Family members, some in tears, said during the hearing that perhaps some small measure of justice has been given to Day, but one relative remarked that it was "a sad day, period, for our legal system."

Rourke told The Denver Gazette that his office has found 100 to 110 criminal investigations in his district alone where Woods was involved. The fate of those cases remains unknown, as do others across Colorado.

So far, CBI has acknowledged it has found 809 "anomalies" or irregularities in her work dating back to 1994. The agency remains mostly tight-lipped about which cases could be affected, and defense attorneys have complained that neither they nor imprisoned clients are always given notifications that their cases could be affected.

But the ripple effect of the scandal -- which some say could take years to untangle -- is just now starting to be felt.

Earlier this year, Boulder County prosecutors offered a plea deal on lesser charges to a man previously sentenced to life without parole for a triple homicide after learning that forensic data they needed in the case had been compromised by Woods.

In that case, Garrett Coughlin was found guilty in 2019 of the first-degree murder of three people. He was granted a new trial because of juror misconduct, but much like in the Weld County case, before he could be retried, he was offered a reduced sentence on a lesser charge of second-degree murder. Prosecutors in Boulder also said they could no longer call Woods to testify, so instead of taking a chance on a jury verdict or dismissal, they offered Coughlin a sentence of 42 years in prison.

With credit for time already serviced, he could be eligible for parole in about half that time.

Also in Boulder County, Michael Clark, who is serving life without parole for a murder he said he did not commit, was convicted in 2012 largely on the strength of DNA evidence analyzed by Woods which is now in dispute.

The Boulder County District Attorney has similarly requested the DNA be retested. An evidentiary hearing in that case is scheduled for Jan. 30. Clark's attorney has asked that his client be released from prison and the conviction overturned.

As the scandal continues to unfold, CBI has come under fire for its lack of transparency.

On Friday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order creating a Colorado Bureau of Investigation Forensic Services Committee, which his office said will foster collaboration between various entities, including law enforcement, prosecutors, forensic experts, academics, and defense attorneys.

The committee will review quality issues, provide input on forensic services reporting and discovery in legal cases and offer improvements to procedures, the governor's office said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE GAZETTE

Previous articleNext article

POPULAR CATEGORY

entertainment

10842

discovery

4841

multipurpose

11244

athletics

11428