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Conviction overturned in ’87 Cabell County murder

Photo from The Herald-Dispatch Phillip Ward
Photo from The Herald-Dispatch
Phillip Ward

HUNTINGTON – The murder conviction of a man serving life in prison for a 1987 killing at a fast-food restaurant was overturned after Cabell Circuit Judge Alfred E. Ferguson found testimony from former State Police serologist Fred Zain gave him an unfair trial.

Phillip Anthony Ward, 51, will be entitled to a new trial after his attorney, Connor Robertson, argued last October against Zain’s trustworthiness, Robertson confirmed Thursday. Robertson said he informed Ward of the ruling Thursday at Mount Olive Correctional Complex, a maximum security state prison.

“Mr. Ward has been waiting more than 25 years for someone to listen,” he said. “With Judge Ferguson’s ruling, it appears someone finally has.”

 Robertson said Ward was speechless upon hearing the ruling.

Ward has served nearly 29 years in prison since his conviction.

A jury convicted Ward in 1988 for the murder of Wendy’s night manager Carol Carter after Zain testified to forensic evidence at the scene of the crime.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

Ward was convicted of murdering Carter with a concrete block in the store after her last co-worker left Wendy’s. More than $1,300 was also missing from a safe at the store.

Former analyst Zain was discredited by the Supreme Court on Nov. 4, 1993, in an original investigation.

Senior Circuit Court Judge James Holliday issued a report finding Zain had lied on several reports and in court testimony. Holliday said that any testimony offered by Zain, which allowed over 100 convicted defendants to petition under habeas corpus, should be invalid.

 The evidence in question in this case was cash.

Original testimony claimed there was human blood from two people on various bills, but Robertson argued there could have been three. Robertson pointed out that analysis reports said a third DNA type showed up on the bills, although they did not test very high.

Ward’s first petition for a new trial was denied by now-retired Cabell Circuit Judge Dan O’Hanlon in 1996, who found it was not Zain who had conducted the forensics test, but rather Ted Smith and Brent Myers, employees who worked under Zain.

The two crime lab analysts signed affidavits to the court stating evidence tested was still valid because they were the ones who tested money pertaining to the case and Zain was simply testifying.

After O’Hanlon’s retirement in 2010, Circuit Judge Paul T. Farrell granted Ward’s petition for a new hearing, but was disqualified from hearing the case due to his prior work before taking office.

Follow reporter Courtney Hessler at Facebook.com/CHesslerHD and via Twitter @HesslerHD.

 See more from The Herald-Dispatch.

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