“Everyone Should Want The Truth” – Lawsuit Seeks To Clear Executed Man

The ACLU and Innocence Project have filed a lawsuit seeking DNA and fingerprints found at the scene of a 1993 murder. They believe the evidence could clear Ledell Lee, the man executed for the crime in 2017.

January 24, 2020

NBC News,

JACKSONVILLE, Ark. (NBC News) — Attorneys with the Innocence Project and American Civil Liberties Union have file a lawsuit seeking DNA and fingerprints found at the scene of the 1993 murder of Debra Reese in Jacksonville, Arkansas.

They believe the evidence could posthumously clear Ledell Lee of the crime. He was executed in 2017.

“We just want to know the truth,” Patricia Young, Lee’s younger sister, said during a Thursday press conference announcing the suit.

The ACLU and Innocence Project began looking into the case shortly before Lee’s death sentence was carried out.

They say the DNA and fingerprints found at the crime scene do not match Lee’s.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Lee’s family, is asking to allow the evidence, currently in the possession of the Jacksonville Police Department, be run through national databases for the first time.

The Jacksonville city attorney sent an email to the mayor and the city council regarding the lawsuit, stating in part “under current state statutes and case law, the City is prevented from releasing DNA physical evidence.”