BOULDER, Colo. — On Monday evening, a Colorado man whose conviction was vacated was released from prison on bond after spending more than a decade behind bars.
Michael Clark was convicted of first-degree murder in 2012. Prosecutors argued he shot and killed Marty Grisham in Boulder in 1994.
That conviction was vacated on Friday, after the Boulder County District Attorney's Office reviewed "new evidence" conducted by an independent lab that produced different DNA results than what was introduced during Clark's trial.
Watch our report from Monday on why Michael Clark's attorney says false testimony led to his wrongful conviction.
This is the first Colorado conviction to be vacated following an investigation into a former Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) forensic scientist, who is accused of mishandling DNA evidence. Yvonne "Missy" Woods testified in Clark's trial, and her testimony helped prosecutors place Clark at the scene of the crime.
Other evidence presented during the 2012 trial included Clark being given a key in order to watch a cat at the apartment roughly a month prior to the murder; stealing a book of checks from Grisham while at the home and cashing them using forged signatures; and ballistics evidence showing that Clark was in possession of the same kind of ammunition used to kill Grisham, despite a murder weapon never being recovered.
Clark's attorney, Adam Frank, has fought for his client to be released from prison for years.
"We have been waiting for this. Mike has been waiting for this," Frank said.
Frank, along with Clark's wife and children, waited inside the Boulder County Jail lobby for hours on Monday.
"That was long and difficult, but at the end of the day, I mean, all that matters is that he came out," Frank said.
Crime
1994 murder conviction thrown out, new DNA results differ from trial evidence
Clark was driven to Boulder from Cañon City where he was able to post the $100,000 bond needed to be released. Once he walked outside of the Boulder County Jail, his family rushed into his arms, wiping away tears of joy.
"I'm amazed to see this many people here to see this," Clark told a group of reporters. "Thank you for coming, and I'm just so grateful to be here and be with them [my family] and move on with our lives."
Hear directly from Michael Clark after he stepped out to see his family after years of imprisonment.
When asked what he would do once home, Clark responded that he would do whatever his family wanted to do.
"The next step is for Mike to go home and sleep in his own bed. I mean, everything else is secondary to that," Frank said. "Today is a really, really good day, because an innocent man just walked out of jail and walked out of prison, and he's never going back, and that's what's important."
Frank would like to see the charges against Clark dismissed.
The Boulder District Attorney's Office will decide if they want to retry this case. A status conference is scheduled on June 6 to determine what happens next.
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