Judge To Hear New Evidence In 1987 Easton Murder Case

EASTON, Md. (AP) -- The attorneys for two men convicted of a 1987 slaying in Easton are asking for their clients' murder convictions to be reversed because of new forensic evidence.

On Monday, a Talbot County judge agreed to hold an April hearing in the case of 46-year-old David R. Faulkner and 46-year-old Jonathan D. Smith. The prisoners' attorneys say a previously unidentified palm print found in the victim's house was recently re-examined by state police and matched to Ty A. Brooks, a Maryland inmate incarcerated for similar burglary and assault crimes that took place in the area.

Faulkner and Smith were given life sentences in 2000 for the killing of 64-year-old Adeline Wilford. The case had gone cold for nearly 13 years before a reward for information on the case prompted Smith's aunt, Beverly Haddaway, to come forward to police.

CORRECTION:  In a story Oct. 27 about a hearing in a 1987 murder case in Maryland, The Associated Press reported erroneously that a palm print found at the scene was bloody. Attorneys say the palm print was not bloody.

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