Judge Dismisses Capital Case Against Man Held Nearly 6 Years

VALLEY, Ala. (AP) – An Alabama judge dismissed a capital murder charge against a man jailed for nearly six years because authorities failed to turn over key evidence to the defense.

A Chambers County Circuit judge ruled Tuesday that the state purposely failed to provide lawyers for Stacey Demar Gray with DNA evidence that supposedly linked him to the death of Renee Eldridge.

Gray was abducted from her home in Columbus, Georgia, in 2015. She was later found dead in a creek in east Alabama. The man still faces charges related to an earlier alleged attack on the same woman. A prosecutor says he could also be charged with murder in Georgia.

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