MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WDNews) – A federal judge has ordered a new trial for an Alabama death row inmate after DNA testing pointed to another man as the source of evidence in the case.
Chief U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks ruled last week that Christopher Barbour, 56, must receive a new trial in the 1992 stabbing death of Thelma Bishop Roberts in Montgomery.
Barbour was convicted in 1994 after confessing to killing Roberts following a rape committed by another man. He later recanted, saying police coerced the confession, and has since maintained his innocence.
In 2021, new DNA testing showed that semen collected from the victim did not belong to Barbour or the man he accused. Instead, it matched a neighbor who is now serving time for an unrelated murder.
Marks wrote that prosecutors failed to turn over bench notes from the initial forensic report, which excluded both Barbour and the other man as the source of the DNA. That information, she said, could have cast doubt on Barbour’s confession, which was the central evidence against him at trial.
“Barbour has shown that the prosecution’s knowing use of false evidence may have had an effect on the outcome of the trial,” Marks wrote.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office argued the new DNA results do not clear Barbour and said the state plans to appeal the decision.
Marks gave the state 90 days to begin preparing for a new trial. She did not rule on Barbour’s innocence but wrote that he can present that argument to a jury.
Barbour has been on death row in Alabama since 1994.
