Prosecutors to dismiss 1993 rape charges

Clark County prosecutors ended months of speculation by announcing this afternoon that they plan to dismiss charges against two men whose 1993 rape convictions were vacated by a judge on the basis of newly discovered DNA evidence.

Charges against Larry W. Davis and Alan G. Northrop will officially be dismissed at a court hearing July 14, said Senior Deputy Prosecutor John Fairgrieve.

The pending dismissal follows weeks of investigation by the prosecution to try and explain the new DNA evidence, which the defense suggested pointed to different assailants in the Jan. 11., 1993, attack of a woman cleaning a home in La Center.

The prosecution thought the DNA evidence — which showed a match with two different, unknown men — could have come from people unrelated to the attack who had contact with the victim: her son, the homeowner of the house she was cleaning and a friend. But follow-up testing over the past month did not show a DNA match with any of these people, Fairgrieve said.

“That in conjunction with the desire of the victim not to have to go through with another trial is causing us dismiss the case,” he said this afternoon.

John Pantazis, staff attorney with the Innocence Project Northwest, said the follow-up DNA testing has shown what he knew all along: “First, I think it’s overwhelmingly clear that Larry Davis and Alan Northrop are completely innocent, but also that the DNA did, in fact, come from the actual assailants.”

Clark County Superior Court Judge Diane Woolard vacated the men’s convictions on April 21. Vacating a sentence isn’t the same as a jury acquittal; it simply sets the conviction aside and gives prosecutors the option of taking the case to trial again.

Prosecutors plan to dismiss charges without prejudice, meaning charges could still be refiled.

For a full story, read Friday’s Columbian.