Indiana Co. Prosecutor To Decide Whether To Drop Charges In 1976 Killing

PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) - A Pennsylvania prosecutor is expected to announce whether he'll retry a man who was freed due to new DNA evidence last month after serving 34 years in prison in the shooting death of a 15-year-old.

A judge issued the order freeing 63-year-old Lewis Fogle in Indiana County last month. But Fogle was merely released on bond later because he's still charged in the rape and murder of Deann Katherine Long.

The judge's decision stemmed from a joint motion by the Innocence Project and District Attorney Patrick Dougherty, who will decide Monday afternoon whether to drop the charges.

Dougherty has been reviewing other evidence before deciding whether to retry Fogle.

Fogle has denied the killing, but was the only one of four people arrested in March 1981 to stand trial.

New DNA testing recently discovered crime scene evidence, excluded Fogle and pointed to an unidentified man.

"The fact that his DNA did not show up in the test simply says that we may not have the sufficient evidence to prosecute on a felony murder," Dougherty said. "The evidence existed, the technology didn't really exist back in the early 80's to the degree and to the specificity and sophistication that it does now."

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