FBI errors could impact Jacksonville man facing death penalty

A Jacksonville man gets the death penalty for the brutal rape and murder of a woman in her Mandarin home- but news that the FBI admits to flawed hair analysis in hundreds of cases nationwide change that.

This week, the Justice Department and FBI pledged a full review of FBI laboratory protocols and procedures. An investigation found flawed hair analysis testimony in hundreds of criminal cases, with hundreds more still under review.

WOKV confirmed with the State Attorney’s Office that one local case, that of Gerald Murray, could be affected.

Murray is currently on death row for the 1990 rape, burglary, and murder of 59-year-old Alice Vest. According to the conviction, Vest was strangled with a cord or belt, stabbed at least two dozen times, and beaten with a metal bar, candlestick holder, and broken bottle. Murray and another man, Steve Taylor, were accused of the crime. Pubic hair on the scene was found to have the same “microscopic characteristics” as Murray, according to the case layout by the Florida Supreme Court. He was also linked to jewelry stolen from the victim’s home.

Murray allegedly confessed his involvement to a man he escaped prison with, saying he broke in to the house after Taylor convinced him to, had the victim perform oral sex on him, and then went to find items in the home to steal. He claimed he came back and found Vest had been stabbed, but wasn’t dead, so together the men strangled her to death.

This death sentence is actually the result of the fourth trial Murray has faced on these charges. The Florida Supreme Court timeline of the case shows that in 1994 Murray was first convicted and sentenced to death, but that was ultimately reversed because of “erroneous qualification of an expert witness who testified as to DNA evidence and the improper admission of DNA evidence at trial.” Murray’s 1998 trial ended with a hung jury. He was again tried in 1999, convicted, and sentenced to death. Again, however, the Florida Supreme Court reversed the conviction because of the improper admission of DNA evidence.

The ruling dealing with the 1999 conviction shows specific concerns about the handling of the hair evidence in the case.

Murray’s fourth trial was in 2003, and he was again convicted of first-degree murder, burglary with assault, and sexual battery.

The conviction was again appealed by Murray's defense, but the Florida Supreme Court upheld his conviction and sentence. The ruling we've obtained shows hair evidence was again an issue raised on appeal, but the Court believed the prosecution presented new evidence in the fourth trial which cleared up prior issues that warranted overturning the conviction.

The State Attorney’s Office tells WOKV they were notified about the potentially flawed FBI hair analysis in this case in 2013. At that time, there was already a hearing set for a motion by the defendant for post-conviction relief. This potential analysis issue was added on to that pending hearing, which is scheduled for November.