Freedom denied for Missouri man convicted in woman's killing

ST. LOUIS -- A Missouri judge refused to grant freedom to a man convicted of sexually attacking and killing a St. Louis woman more than three decades ago.

Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green last week ruled there was not enough evidence to back Rodney Lincoln's claim of innocence in the death of 35-year-old JoAnn Tate. She was killed in her home in 1982. Her two young daughters were assaulted.

"We are disappointed, but we will not stop fighting for Mr. Lincoln's freedom," Tricia Bushnell, legal director of the Midwest Innocence Project, which represented Lincoln, said in a statement. "The testimony and evidence presented shows that no credible evidence connects Mr. Lincoln to this crime, and that justice for Mr. Lincoln and the victims' family requires he be released."

A spokesman for the Midwest Innocence Project said an appeal is planned.

Tate's daughter, Melissa Davis, is among those now supporting Lincoln, saying she was wrong when, at age 7, she implicated him in the crime.

Meanwhile, testimony at Lincoln's trial indicated a hair found at the scene belonged to him, but genetic testing later disproved that, attorneys for the Innocence Project said.

Davis and her 4-year-old sister identified Lincoln from one of two photos of possible suspects shown to them by a detective. Lincoln originally was charged with capital murder but was convicted of manslaughter and two counts of first-degree assault.

He was sentenced to life in prison as a "prior, persistent and dangerous offender," court documents say.

Davis began to question whether Lincoln was the real killer last year, when the TV show "Crime Watch Daily" questioned whether serial killer Tommy Sells, who once lived in St. Louis, could have committed the crime. The episode focused on the work of a private investigator that drew similarities between Tate's death and killings by Sells.

Davis said in a deposition seeing the mugshot of Sells gave her "a flash of recognition."

Attorneys for the Missouri Attorney General's office argued Davis was influenced by the private investigator and the TV show.

Green, in his ruling, wrote Davis' "recantation made three decades after the murder, after viewing a television show blaming the murder on a notorious serial killer, is not new, reliable evidence."

The Innocence Project said eyewitness misidentification is a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The organization said more than 70 percent of exonerations based on DNA evidence around the country involve cases in which witnesses wrongly identified the culprit.

The ruling was the second setback for Lincoln this week. On Wednesday, Green denied Lincoln's request for furlough to attend the funeral of his 23-year-old granddaughter, who was fatally shot in St. Louis.