Greensboro, NC-- A Greensboro convicted of murder in 1995 may be set free by a judge on Friday.
NC prison inmate Lamonte Armstrong will get a hearing on Friday at 2:00pm in a Guilford County Courtroom. The same place he was convicted about 17 years ago. Armstrong's attorneys and an assistant district attorney will recommend he be release and granted a new trial.
According to a news release from Duke Univ. Innocence Project, Armstrong was convicted of First-Degree Murder in the 1988 stabbing and strangulation of Ernestine Compton, who was a NC A&T Professor.
After his conviction for the crime he was sentenced to life in prison. Armstrong has maintained his innocence since he was first accused of the crime.
Greensboro Police Chief Ken Miller said via news release Thursday night that new technology may help Armstrong get his freedom and a new trial Miller said they have possibly identified another suspect as well.
The key piece of evidence that led to Friday's motion and prosecutorial support for a new trial is a partial palm print that was lifted from a door frame just above Compton's body, according to Miller.
Read Chief Miller's full release
Armstrong will be represented by David Pishko, a 1977 Duke Law School graduate, and Duke law professor Theresa Newman, co-director of Duke's Wrongful Convictions Clinic and Innocence Project. Pishko, Newman and professor James Coleman, also co-director of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic and Innocence Project, have been working on Armstrong's case with students and alumni from Duke Law School.
Five of the students who worked on the case in law school continued to work pro bono after graduating. All five, along with a current student assigned to the case, will be at the hearing.
"The students and alumni involved in this have been crucial to securing Mr. Armstrong's release," Newman said. "They have meticulously investigated Mr. Armstrong's claim and put together a compelling case."
"The willingness of the Greensboro Police Department and the District Attorney's office to listen to our concerns and act as amenable, if skeptical, allies in pursuing the truth is a blueprint for how innocence investigations should proceed," said Coleman. "In this case, the system worked with us and together we will achieve justice."