• Former sailor cleared of murder, rape after 33 years in prison

  • Keith Allen Harward was convicted of crimes he did not commit

  • The 60-year-old U. S. sailor was convicted in 1982 for killing  a Newport News man and raping the man’s wife.

A former sailor who had languished in jail for 33 years  for a crime he did not commit has  left prison today after DNA evidence showed that he was mistakenly convicted of murder and rape.


In an article published by the ABC News, it shared that  Keith Allen Harward was released from prison by the Virginia State Court on Thursday.


The 60-year-old U. S. sailor was convicted in 1982 for killing  a Newport News man and raping the man’s wife;  based on the testimony of two experts who said that the teeth and bite marks that were found on the woman’s legs matched those of Harward.


Following his release, Harward said he will start his life over. “I’m not the criminal. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Harward pointed out as he regrets that his parents are now gone as they could have been very happy knowing he’s been freed.


Speaking about his conviction, Harward blamed the prosecutor’s office in Newport News for putting him in jail.


He, however, thanked the justice system and the team of lawyers whom he called “heroes” for helping appeal his case.


The Virginia State Court issued Harward’s release after the state’s attorney general, Mark Herring, said the new evidence shows he is not guilty of the crimes that have kept him in prison for decades.


Instead, the DNA profile found at the scene matched Jerry Crotty, who died in an Ohio prison in 2006, where he was detained for a 2002 conviction for abduction, according to the court’s writ of innocence.


Crotty and Harward were in the Navy together at the time of the murder and rape, according to The Innocence Project; a group well-known for handling cases in which post-conviction DNA testing helps provide proof of innocence.