Timothy Bridges

The Crime

On May 15, 1989, 83-year-old M.W. was found beaten in her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. M.W., who was in failing health and used a wheelchair, gave only a vague description of her attacker.

The next day, M.W.’s daughter-in-law discovered her and called M.W.’s grandson’s wife, Roxie. Roxie went to M.W.’s apartment, found M.W. lying in bed, and telephoned the police. 

M.W. had been severely beaten and despite her denial, a physician concluded she had been raped. 

The Investigation

When investigating the scene, a crime scene technician found a bloody palm print located on a wall in the back of the bedroom adjacent to a light switch. The technician also collected hair samples. 

In March 1990, police charged 23-year-old Timothy Bridges with first-degree rape, assault with a deadly weapon, and burglary. In August 1990, M.W. died, and by the time of the trial, her daughter-in-law also had died.

The Trial

In January 1991, Mr. Bridges went to trial in Mecklenburg County Superior Court. 

Elinos Whitlock III, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police crime laboratory analyst, testified that he conducted the hair analysis. He said he had been trained by the FBI.

Mr. Whitlock said, “It is possible for two individuals to have hairs which are consistent with each other; that hair is not as unique and identifying as a fingerprint.” He further testified that he was familiar with two studies on hair comparison. The first study concluded there was a 1 in 4,500 chance of unknown hair matching a random individual from the Caucasian population. The study, however, had been criticized by other experts. The second study involved 100 individuals in which the testers removed 9 or 10 hairs from each of the individuals but could not find a match from the other individuals, thereby indicating a “very low chance” of unknown hair matching an individual at random. 

Mr. Whitlock testified he had examined between 2,000 and 3,000 hairs, but he had not conducted any statistical analysis. Based upon the two studies and his personal experience, however, Mr. Whitlock declared the “likelihood of two Caucasian individuals having indistinguishable head hair, it is very low. A conservative estimate for that probability would be … approximately one in a thousand.”

On several occasions after the attack, M.W. had described her assailant as having shoulder-length wavy blonde hair. At least two other times, she described him as having brown hair. Sometimes, M.W. described the assailant as being tall, and, other times, she described him as being short. Mr. Bridges had shoulder-length blonde hair.

Three witnesses testified that Mr. Bridges told them he had committed the attack and rape. Clarence Hamilton, a convicted felon, implicated Mr. Bridges after Mr. Hamilton was arrested in November 1989 for carrying a concealed weapon. Police said when they asked Mr. Hamilton if he knew anything about the attack on M.W., he said Mr. Bridges had admitted to the attack and said he needed money for cocaine. According to Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Bridges said he got $40.

Matthew Donaldson testified that he hung around with Mr. Bridges. He said Mr. Hamilton told him that Mr. Bridges had admitted committing the crime. Mr. Donaldson also said he subsequently was with Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Bridges when Mr. Hamilton asked Mr. Bridges “did that to the old lady.” Mr. Donaldson said Mr. Bridges admitted that he did.

Vickie Jones testified that in July 1989, she had a conversation with Mr. Bridges during which he admitted committing the crime while he was “on a shot of dope.” Ms. Jones said Mr. Bridges said, “I always wanted to do that.”

All three witnesses denied they received any benefits for their testimony, and a police officer also denied any benefits were offered or conferred for the testimony.

Although M.W. had denied she had been raped, a physician who examined her said she found bruising consistent with rape. Even though there was a rape kit prepared, there was no indication that it was tested at the time.

The attorney for Mr. Bridges, who maintained his innocence, argued that a bloody palm print found on a wall in M.W.’s home — which did not match M.W. or Mr. Bridges — was left by the attacker.

On Feb. 2, 1991, the jury convicted Mr. Bridges of all charges. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In 1992, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld Mr. Bridges’ conviction and life sentence. The court noted that while Mr. Whitlock should not have been allowed to testify that there was only a 1-in-1,000 chance that a hair found at the scene came from someone other than Mr. Bridges, the mistake did not compromise the fairness of the trial.

The Exoneration

In 2013, after three men who had been convicted on the basis of improper FBI testimony about hair analysis were exonerated by DNA, the Innocence Project and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers convinced the FBI to audit cases where FBI agents had testified about or conducted microscopic hair analysis.

In 2015, the FBI announced a review of FBI microscopic hair comparison analysis identified 268 cases where FBI agents linked people to crimes through hair analysis. A total of 257 of those cases — 96%  — involved scientifically invalid testimony, such as saying that hairs were a positive match or giving unsupported mathematical odds of a match. Twenty-seven of 29 analysts either gave faulty testimony or submitted erroneous reports.

The FBI review covered only testimony by FBI experts, not testimony by state or local microscopic hair comparison experts. However, the FBI noted its experts had trained hundreds and likely thousands of state and local experts over a period of 25 to 30 years. 

In April 2015, the Washington Post reported that flawed testimony by either FBI agents or crime lab analysts trained by the FBI likely affected as many as 2,500 cases across the country.

Mr. Bridges’ case was one of the first to be re-examined that involved an FBI-trained analyst rather than an actual FBI agent. Lauren Miller at North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc., had investigated Mr. Bridges’ case for years and had been told by Mecklenburg County authorities that any physical evidence in the case no longer existed. In October 2014, Ms. Miller filed a motion seeking to vacate Mr. Bridges’ conviction based on the FBI report.

Shortly after that, Innocence Project attorneys Chris Fabricant and Dana Delger joined the case as co-counsel. In October 2015, after reviewing the case, Mecklenburg District Attorney Andrew Murray agreed to vacate Mr. Bridges’ conviction. 

Superior Court Judge Lisa Bell signed findings of fact that had been jointly agreed upon by the prosecution and Mr. Bridges’ defense team. The findings said in part, “The hair microscopy evidence was the only physical evidence that was introduced against the Defendant and, while the State was able to offer the statements of witnesses who claimed the Defendant made incriminating statements, the hair analysis was the centerpiece of the State’s case.”

Mr. Bridges was released on bond on Oct. 1, 2015. 

Three days before Mr. Bridges was released, the prosecution said although the hairs and rape kit had been destroyed, a jacket was found near M.W. at the time of the crime had been discovered. The jacket was submitted for DNA testing and semen was identified. A DNA profile from the semen excluded Mr. Bridges as the source of the semen. 

Moreover, a review of the police files revealed that the investigators had threatened to bring charges against some of the informants who testified that Mr. Bridges confessed to them, and offered to give those informants breaks in their own prosecutions or payments of money in exchange for testimony. None of this evidence was disclosed to Mr. Bridges’ defense at his 1991 trial.

On Feb. 16, 2016, District Attorney Murray dismissed the case.

In August 2016, Mr. Bridges filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Charlotte. In November 2016, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory granted Mr. Bridges a pardon based on actual innocence. In December 2017, the city of Charlotte agreed to settle the lawsuit for $9.5 million. Mr. Bridges was also awarded $750,000 in state compensation.