Darryl Hunt (February 24, 1965 – March 13, 2016) was an African-American man from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who, in 1984, was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and the murder of Deborah Sykes, a young white newspaper copy editor.
It showed that he could not have committed the rape, but a Forsyth County judge ruled that the DNA would not have been sufficient evidence to gain an acquittal, as he could still have been involved in the murder.
In 2003 a review of the state database found that Brown's DNA matched that in the Sykes case, and in 2004 Hunt was formally exonerated.
"In 2006 the chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court appointed a group of prosecutors, police, defense attorneys and crime victims to the N.C. Actual Innocence Commission to look at what leads to wrongful convictions and to propose reforms.
That year the state also established the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, to review cases post-conviction in which defendants and their attorneys believe they were wrongfully convicted.
Juke joints or apartments were common in poor, black and white neighborhoods, serving as a ready place for people to drink at most times of day or night.
[4] In August 1984, Deborah Sykes, a young, white, married copy editor, was raped and murdered by stabbing in the early morning about 6 am on her way to work at The Sentinel newspaper in Winston-Salem.
[10] A witness placed Sammy Mitchell and Darryl Hunt, two young African-American men, near the scene of the crime, but was not positive about the identification.
[10] Police talked to Margaret Crawford, Hunt's underage girlfriend who was working as a prostitute, who changed her account several times.
"[10] Former FBI agent Greg McCrary, "who specializes in developing psychological profiles of sex offenders," said that usually such a violent crime as Sykes was committed by someone with a history of violence against women.
Warren Sparrow had defeated incumbent Donald K. Tisdale in the 1986 Democratic primary for District Attorney, largely due to a backlash by the black community over the latter's handling of Hunt's trial.
Hunt's defense attorney gained a change in venue for his client's trial, as the case had been widely publicized in the Winston-Salem and Forsyth County areas.
"Faced with a retrial in rural Catawba County, prosecutors offered a plea bargain to Hunt that would have set him free.
In addition, the prosecution tested the DNA of Mitchell, Gray [further explanation needed] (each of whom had been implicated to some extent), and Sykes' husband.
Neither Forsyth County judge Melzer Morgan nor the appellate court granted Hunt a new trial based on this evidence.
"[16] Based on this review and that by the State Bureau of Investigation, the city put into place new procedures to prevent police officers from having such tunnel vision about cases.
[1][17] Brown's confession ultimately resulted in the full exoneration and release of Darryl Hunt in 2004, who by then had served more than 19 years of a life sentence for crimes which he denied committing.
Sykes' mother Evelyn Jefferson took the stand and criticized the judge for proposing to release a man she still believed was guilty.
[13] When given a chance to speak, Hunt offered her and the Sykes family his condolences for their loss, and forgave everyone for the years he spent in prison.
He spoke at hundreds of conferences, to students at schools, audiences at film festivals, and congregations of religious groups in an effort to spread his message of reform in the criminal justice system.
He played a pivotal role in North Carolina's statewide effort to pass a Death Penalty Moratorium Bill.
[13] Citizens of Winston-Salem collaborated on creating the Deborah Sykes Administrative Review Committee to investigate the city's handling of this case.
[19] The city issued a formal apology to Darryl Hunt and made a settlement for his wrongful conviction and years in jail.
[18] Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, credited Hunt with contributing to the passage of the legislature of a law establishing the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, to investigate cases of wrongful convictions.