Man convicted of raping and murdering a High School student in 1985 expected in Oneida County Court Monday
Story Created:
Nov 23, 2008 at 6:39 PM EST
Story Updated:
Nov 24, 2008 at 7:51 PM EST
(WKTV) - The man convicted of raping and murdering a 16 Whitesboro High School student back in 1985 is expected to appear in Oneida County Court on Monday.
42 year-old Steven Barnes of Marcy has spent the past 20 years in state prison for the murder of Kimberly Simon, also of Marcy.
The Innocence Project, a non profit agency designed to free innocent people is expected to introduce new DNA evidence and ask a judge to have him freed based on that evidence.
We talked to 47 year old Roy Brown of Syracuse who spent 15 years in state prison himself, but with the help of the Innocence Project, was freed in 2007 after the organization and its lawyers presented new DNA evidence proving someone else killed the woman he was convicted of killing.
Brown says he will be in court on Monday to support the Barnes family and says he actually has spoken to Steven Barnes' mother this weekend, "She was just so excited, she's not sure sure if she's dreaming our not, she can't believe he's finally coming home."
Roy Brown says if Steven Barnes is exonerated, this will be particularly hard on the family of the victim in this case, the family of 16 year old Kimberly Simon, "I feel so bad because they got to be living this tragedy all over again, and they're right now back to square one, who did this to their daughter, their sister, what have you."
Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara says he won't comment on this case yet. He says he an agreement with the Innocence Project that together they will release a statement to the media at some point on Monday.
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