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Uphold integrity WFU law class told
First inmate freed by DNA evidence visits
Journal photo by David Rolfe
Kirk Bloodsworth describes his arrest at gunpoint to law students.
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Published: October 30, 2009
Kirk Bloodsworth's life changed with a knock on his door at 2:45 a.m. on Aug. 9, 1984.
A police officer yelled for him to step outside of his house in Cambridge, Md.
"You're under arrest for the murder of Dawn Hamilton," the officer said.
Bloodsworth, a former Marine, was convicted of sexual assault, rape and first-degree murder in the death of 9-year-old Dawn and sentenced to death. After an appeals court overturned his conviction, he was re-tried, convicted and sentenced to two life terms.
But after nine years in prison, Bloodsworth became the first inmate who was on death row in the United States to be exonerated by DNA evidence. Yesterday, he shared his story with more than 100 law students at the Wake Forest University School of Law.
Bloodsworth is now the program officer for the Justice Project, a nonpartisan organization in Washington that fights against wrongful convictions. He urged the students to uphold integrity in their profession and to make sure that no one has to go through what he did.
"You just can't take circumstantial evidence and take away a man's or a woman's life," he said.
Bloodsworth said he wrote letters to anyone who would listen, including country singer Willie Nelson and President Ronald Reagan. Few responded, but he always signed his letters with the initials, A.I.M. (An Innocent Man).
It was through a book by Joseph Wambaugh, The Blooding, that he found a way to prove his innocence. The book talked about how DNA evidence led to a murder conviction. Bloodsworth figured that if DNA evidence could result in a conviction, it could also result in his exoneration.
He pushed to have the DNA evidence in his case tested. At first, his attorney couldn't find it, and the prosecutor in the case told him that the evidence had been destroyed. It hadn't. It was in a closet in the office of the judge who had presided over his case, Bloodsworth said. The judge had kept the evidence because he had concerns about the case.
In 1993, Bloodsworth learned that DNA evidence had exonerated him. It was a bittersweet moment. Five months earlier, his mother had died. He wasn't allowed to attend her funeral.
In 2003, the detective who testified in court that Bloodsworth had killed Dawn met Bloodsworth at a Burger King. Bloodsworth didn't want to go to the police station. At the restaurant, the detective told Bloodsworth that another man had killed Dawn.
That man was Kimberly Shay Ruffner, who for a few years was in the same prison as Bloodsworth. On May 20, 2004, Ruffner pleaded guilty to killing and raping Dawn.
Darryl Hunt, who listened to Bloodsworth's talk, said he remembered hearing about the case. Hunt was exonerated in 2003 after spending nearly 19 years in prison for the murder of Deborah Sykes.
"Kirk is the godfather for us," Hunt said. "I remember reading about Kirk. That was the hope for me and for so many others."
Joseph Abbitt also sat in the audience yesterday.
In September, Abbitt was exonerated by DNA evidence after spending 14 years in prison on charges that he raped two teenage sisters nearly 20 years ago.
He said these days he divides his time between being with his family and working for the Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice. "I have to keep my mind focused on something positive," he said.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com
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