State of North Carolina v. Joseph Lamont Abbitt

Winston-Salem, North Carolina criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with two counts of rape.



The State of North Carolina accused Joseph Abbitt, age 31, of breaking into the home of two young girls, ages 13 and 16, and raping them in 1991.



The girls told investigators that the attacker looked like Joseph Abbitt, a man who previously lived in the neighborhood.



DNA testing conducted on a piece of clothing did not match Abbitt.



A warrant was issued in 1994, Abbitt was arrested in Texas.



Abbitt had, in fact, been a visitor in the girl's home.



Both of the girls testified that Abbitt was the man who raped them at knife point.



Abbitt denied that he committed the rapes and attempted to prove his innocent with alibi evidence from his place of employment and from testimony by his brother.



The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence elected to review the evidence and was able to provide that body fluids collected by investigators demonstrated that he was not the perpetrator.



Abbitt's DNA was found on one sample from the home where the girl's live but Abbitt had apparently had sex with the girls' mother.



Abbitt was exonerated but was not entitled to compensation for his wrongful convicted because the governor would grant him a pardon.



Abbitt filed a pro se civil rights claim against the City of Winston-Salem and several investigators but was unable to establish that his civil rights were violated by the officers or the City. His case was dismissed on June 5, 2013 by Judge Catherine Eagles.

Defendant was found guilty by a jury in June, 1995. He was sentenced to life sentences plus 100 years.



Abbitt's conviction was affirmed on appeal in 1996.



Abbitt was exonerated on September 2, 2009.



Abbbitt died in a car accident in 2015.