Nashville News Blog

MSNBC

Charges against Paul House were dropped today after District Attorney Paul Phillips petitioned Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood to put to rest the case against a man who spent 22 years on death row.

This some three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared "no reasonable juror" would convict House of murdering Carolyn Muncey in rural Union County. The rationale was that House raped Muncey then bludgeoned her to death to keep from getting caught. DNA evidence, however, proved he did not rape Muncey, so the prosecution's motive went out the window.

There were even some witnesses who said Muncey's husband, Hubert, confessed to killing her. At long last, the U.S. District Court delays and the State's foot-dragging unwillingness to admit the case was plagued with errors have been put to an end. Though after all the years on death row, his multiple sclerosis left untreated, the State hasn't left House with much of a life.