A Rhode Island judge has overturned the murder conviction of a man who has been in jail for 23 years - after new DNA evidence proved that hair and blood found at the scene came from someone else.
Raymond Tempest, 62, who was found guilty in 1992 of killing Doreen Picard, gave a slight smile at the judge's ruling, while his daughter Jody and ex-wife Jane broke down in tears.
Ms Picard's parents Ronald and Simone were also in the packed court and looked somber.
Judge Daniel A. Procaccini did not immediately release Tempest on bail. A bail hearing has been set for August 4.
Relief: Raymond Tempest is congratulated by his lawyer Michael Kendall, left, after his conviction is vacated
Tears of joy: Tempest's daughter Jody and his ex-wife Jane break down in the packed courtroom Monday
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ShareVictim: Doreen Picard, 22, a former homecoming queen, was beaten and strangled
State Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said he would appeal Monday's decision.
Afterwards Jody Tempest, 35, who was just 12 when her father was jailed, said: 'It’s been a long 23 years for us.'
The ruling followed a long post-conviction hearing earlier this year in which Tempest's lawyers argued, among other things, that DNA evidence showed that someone else killed the 22-year-old in 1982.
Prosecutors had alleged Tempest beat Picard with a 28-inch-long pipe and strangled her with her sweater after she discovered him beating up her landlord Susan M. Laferte, in the basement of Laferte's house in Woonsocket.
Picard, a former homecoming queen, had been bludgeoned so violently that emergency medical workers initially assumed there had been a shooting. Laferte also suffered severe injuries but survived.
Somber: Relatives of Doreen Picard held hands as they listened to the judge's decision in court yesterday
Judge Daniel Procaccini, who said 'the taint of improper procedure' meant the conviction could not stand
Years later Tempest said he had been drinking and smoking cannabis with friends at the time of the murder but had never disclosed this to police for fear of embarrassing his father, who was Providence County high sheriff, and his brother, a Woonsocket detective.
He also accused Woonsocket police of coercing witnesses to implicate him.
Under cross examination, he said: 'I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d be charged with murder. I could never take the life of a young lady.'
He was sentenced to 85 years in prison.
Sixteen months later his brother Gordon was convicted of perjury to protect his brother and also jailed. He has always maintained his own innocence - and that of his brother.
After serving a decade, Raymond - nicknamed Beaver - requested the help of the New England Innocence Project, which ultimately helped him overturn the conviction.
When DNA testing was ordered in 2004, it was the first time a Rhode Island judge had mandated it as part of a defendant's attempt to overturn a conviction.
Special Assistant Attorney General Christopher Bush (left) and Assistant Attorney General Patrick Youngs listen to the judge's decision. The Attorney General's office has said it will appeal
In Monday's 78-page ruling, Judge Procaccini said he could not declare Mr. Tempest innocent but that violations of due process during the case’s trial left him with no choice but to set the 1992 conviction aside.
'With over a decade between the events and questioning and a virtually endless loop of suggestive interviews, police procedure in the Tempest case created a perfect storm for flawed witness statements,' he said.
'The taint of improper procedure so poisoned the well that Mr. Tempest’s conviction cannot stand.'
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