Chad Heins Case

The case I pick was about Chad Heins. He was wrongfully convicted of murdering his sister-in-law in northern Florida. Chad Heins was exonerated on December 4, 2007, due to DNA evidence proving that another man committed the crime. On April 17, 1994, Tina Heins was brutally stabbed to death. Chad lived with his sister-in-law and brother Jeremy. Chads brother was in the Navy and was aboard a ship at the time of the murder. Chad came home that night at 12:30am, which was two hours before the murder. He woke up around 5:45 a.m. to find three small fires about the living room and kitchen. After putting out the fires and disarming the smoke alarms, he discovered Tina in her bedroom stabbed 27 times.

Besides Chad being at the apartment, there was no evidence connecting him in the murder. There was no blood on his clothes, under his fingernails, no scratches or scrapes on his body, and no murder weapon

In 2003, the Innocence Project filed a motion for DNA testing on skin cells collected at autopsy from underneath the victim’s fingernails. Because she has defense wounds on her hands the biological evidence form the attacker could be under her fingernails. She had defense wounds on her hands, meaning that biological evidence from the attacker could be under her fingernails. The DNA test results showed that male DNA under Tina’s fingernails did not come from Chad or Jeremy Heins. Additional testing in 2005 showed that the profile from the hairs was consistent with the DNA from the fingernails, all belonging to a single, unknown male. While preparing for the retrial, the Innocence Project sought further DNA testing on semen from the victim’s bed sheets. DNA test results released in November 2007 showed that the semen came from the same person as the hairs and the cells found under the victim’s fingernails. On December 4, 2007, prosecutors dropped the pending charges against Heins. Chad Heins, 33, had been incarcerated for 13