Philly DA asks judge to free Walter Ogrod for 1988 murder after new DNA evidence
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has asked a judge to release Walter Ogrod, who has been serving nearly three decades on death row.
The request comes after new DNA evidence was discovered in the case
Ogrod was convicted in the July 1988 murder of Barbara Jean Horn.
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The 4-year-old's body was found stuffed in a television box on a curb in front of her Castor Gardens home.
After years of dead-end leads, police arrested Ogrod in 1992, and he gave a confession.
Ogrod went to trial twice-- the first was declared a mistrial.
He was convicted in October of 1996, but Ogrod and his family maintained all along that his confession was coerced by police.
In a court filing, Krasner said there exists no credible evidence to prove Ogrod was the person who murdered Barbara Jean.
Krasner is asking a judge to release him without a hearing which is right now scheduled for later this month.
