BOISE — A death-row inmate whose conviction for a 1982 murder was set aside after new tests on DNA evidence raised questions about his guilt was ordered released from prison.
"Thank God for DNA," said Charles Fain as he left the Idaho Maximum Security Prison on Thursday. "I knew I didn't do it, so it had to work out sooner or later."
A state judge issued the order after prosecutors said they would not retry the 52-year-old Fain, who has spent more than a third of his life in prison for the kidnapping, sexual assault and drowning of 9-year-old Daralyn Johnson.
"After conducting a thorough review of the evidence, we have concluded that while some evidence exists that Fain was involved in the crime, there is insufficient evidence at this time to prove Fain's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," Canyon County prosecutor David Young said.
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill set aside Fain's conviction last month and ordered the state to file new charges or release Fain by Sept. 4. Fain has maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration, which included 17 years on death row.
Much of the case against him rested on an FBI forensics expert's testimony that pubic hairs found in Daralyn's socks and underwear may have been Fain's.
But breakthroughs in DNA identification led a forensic laboratory to conclude in June that the hairs were not Fain's. The lab said the hairs came from the same unidentified person.
Fain's case was one of the first in the country in which scientists used mitochondrial DNA, which is found in hair, to determine whether it belonged to a particular suspect. The technology for such testing was only recently developed.
Daralyn was abducted while walking to school in February 1982. Her body was found by fishermen three days later along the Snake River. Fain, a handyman, moved into Daralyn's neighborhood shortly after her death and was later charged with the slaying.