Glen Woodall (Huntington, West Virginia)

Factual background. Two women, in separate incidents, were abducted at knife point in a shopping mall parking lot. Both times the assailant wore a ski mask and forced the victims to close their eyes throughout the attack. In the first instance, the attacker drove around in the woman’s car, repeatedly raped her, and stole a gold watch and $5. The victim opened her eyes briefly to note that the assailant wore brown pants and was uncircumcised. In the second case, the man repeatedly raped the woman and stole a gold watch. This woman was able to note the man’s boots, jacket, and hair color. She also noted that he was uncircumcised.

On July 8, 1987, a jury found Glen Woodall guilty of first-degree sexual assault of one woman, first-degree sexual abuse of a second woman, kidnaping both women, and aggravated robbery of both women. He was sentenced by the circuit court to two life terms without parole and to 203 to 335 years in prison, to be served consecutively.

Prosecutor’s evidence at trial. The prosecution based its case on several points:

• A State police chemist testified that Woodall’s blood secretions matched secretions in a semen sample from the evidence.
• A comparison of body and beard hair from the defendant was consistent with hair recovered from a victim’s car.
• Partial visual identification of the defendant was made by one of the victims.
• One victim identified clothing that matched clothing found in the defendant’s house.
• Both victims testified that the assailant was not circumcised, in common with the defendant.
• A distinctive smell about the assailant was noted by both victims and also was found at the defendant’s workplace.

During the pretrial hearing, the judge denied a defense request for an “experimental new” DNA test of the defendant’s blood and semen samples from the victims’ clothing. Denial was based on defense inability to offer any expert testimony on the test’s validity or reliability. After trial, the defense raised this issue again, and a DNA test was finally performed. The court held that test results were inconclusive.

Postconviction challenges. On July 6, 1989, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed Woodall’s conviction (385 S.E.2d 253). Woodall continued to file motions to allow DNA testing of the evidence. He filed several appeal petitions and habeas corpus petitions with both the trial court and with the West Virginia Supreme Court. The State Supreme Court finally allowed the evidence to be released to the defense for additional DNA testing. This evidence was forwarded to Forensic Science Associates (FSA).

DNA results. FSA conducted PCR testing of the semen samples from the vaginal swabs from the original rape kits. FSA concluded that the assailant in both cases had the same DQ alpha type and neither matched Woodall’s type. These results were reviewed and confirmed in testimony by several laboratories and forensics experts, including Dr. Alec Jeffreys and Dr. David Bing of the Center for Blood Research (CBR). CBR also conducted its own PCR analysis and arrived at the same results as FSA (see appendix for results).

Conclusion. Woodall submitted a habeas corpus petition based on the DNA test results. On July 15, 1991, the trial court held a hearing on the petition and vacated Woodall’s conviction. Other relevant evidence included secret hypnosis of the two victims and a romantic relationship between one of the victims and an investigating officer. The court set bond at $150,000 for Woodall and ordered him placed on electronic home monitoring. CBR continued conducting RFLP analysis and eliminated three potential donors as sources of the sperm. This was to counter the prosecution’s argument that the stains may have come from consensual partners. The RFLP analysis also excluded Woodall, and the State conducted its own DNA test. The State’s results also excluded Woodall, as noted in a report of April 23, 1992.

As a result of the additional testing, West Virginia moved to dismiss Woodall’s indictment on May 4, 1992, and the trial court granted the motion. Woodall served 4 years of his sentence in prison and spent a year under electronic home confinement.

It is important to note that the State police chemist in this case, Fred Zain (see also Gerald Wayne Davis and William O’Dell Harris cases), was investigated by the West Virginia attorney general’s office and the State Supreme Court of Appeals for providing perjured testimony in criminal cases. Glen Woodall was the first person whose conviction was overturned after Zain testified for the State. Over 130 cases in which Zain either performed lab tests or provided the testimony are being reviewed by the State attorney general’s office. In addition, an investigation is ongoing in several Texas counties where Zain worked and testified as a laboratory expert.

Glen Woodall was awarded $l million from West Virginia for his wrongful conviction and false imprisonment.

This case profile is excerpted from Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial, a 1996 research report by the U.S. Department of Justice.