Man to be freed after serving 18 years

PITTSBURGH -- A man imprisoned 18 years in the fatal shooting of a McDonald's restaurant manager will be freed because DNA tests show he didn't commit the crime, officials said Tuesday.

Drew Whitley, now 50, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in the 1988 slaying. But officials said the DNA tests show that hairs from the killer's mask and hat did not come from him.

"I am thrilled with the results," defense attorney Scott Coffey said Tuesday. "I am thrilled he is going home."

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said he has asked that the life sentence be vacated.

The restaurant manager, 22-year-old Noreen Malloy, was shot to death outside her workplace in Duquesne, a small city about 13 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

The hair evidence, thought to have been lost or destroyed, was found in July in storage and submitted for DNA tests. Final results were received by prosecutors Tuesday.

Soon after the shooting, a witness identified Whitley, and at the 1989 trial a crime lab technician said 41 hairs found in the stocking mask resembled Whitley's hair. DNA testing was not available at the time.

Police also recovered a bloodstained coat, hat and shoes, and the mask was found in a parking lot near the crime scene. Blood on the shoes matched Whitley's blood type.

Whitley has always maintained his innocence, Coffey said.