Randall Mills

The Trial

In January 2000, Mr. Mills went to trial in Marshall County Circuit Court. C.M. testified that earlier in the day of the rape, Mr. Mills had told her that he “had dope over at his house and to come over later.”

C.M. said she understood that Mr. Mills was offering to smoke marijuana with her. At approximately 8:45 p.m., C.M. said her sister told her to go to bed to be rested for school the next day. C.M. said she decided to sleep in the living room because she was afraid to sleep in her bedroom while her mother was out of town. So, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend went into a different room to listen to the radio.

C.M. testified that not long after, she went next door to Mr. Mills’ residence. She said she went into his living room, where he was watching television and ironing clothes. Both of Mr. Mills’ sons were in their bedrooms. C.M. said she and Mr. Mills went into Mr. Mills’ bedroom and locked the door. 

C.M. said she sat on the bed with her feet touching the floor. Mr. Mills pulled a marijuana cigarette from his shirt pocket and lit it. She said he took a puff and passed it to her. She said that after three “puffs,” she did not want to smoke anymore, so she tossed the joint out of the bedroom window. She said Mr. Mills then took a second, shorter marijuana cigarette from his shirt pocket and smoked it. 

C.M. testified that the marijuana made her feel “dizzy and lightheaded” and stated, “I couldn’t see or feel or anything.”

She said that Mr. Mills then pushed her back onto his bed. He rubbed her vagina through her blue jeans, unclasped her bra, and fondled her breast. She said Mr. Mills then pulled her blue jeans and underwear down to her ankles. At this point, Mr. Mills knelt in front of C.M., put his mouth over her vagina, and also penetrated her vagina with his finger. 

C.M. estimated that this continued for approximately five minutes. She said Mr. Mills then penetrated her with his penis. C.M. said she was “high” throughout the incident.

According to testimony, C.M.’s sister had begun to search for C.M. When she was unable to locate C.M. in the backyard, she and her boyfriend began to search the area. C.M. said that when Mr. Mills heard the boyfriend’s car start, he stopped. C.M. said she got dressed and as she left, Mr. Mills  put a $20 bill in her blue jeans pocket, saying, “Here is $20, thanks.” C.M. also said that Mr. Mills added, “If you tell anybody, I am just going to deny it.” C.M. estimated that the events occurred during a one-hour period of time.

She said she immediately returned home and was so “high” that she “couldn’t hardly walk” and that, “I fell when I went out of his door.” C.M. waited on the front porch of her apartment until her sister and the boyfriend returned because the front door of the duplex was locked and she did not have a key. Afraid of getting into trouble, C.M. initially claimed she had been in the backyard. When her sister said that she had looked for C.M. in the backyard, C.M. confessed that she had been at Mr. Mills’ home and recounted what had occurred. C.M. gave her sister the $20 bill that Mr. Mills had tucked in her jeans. Her sister, accompanied by the boyfriend and C.M. then went next door where her sister confronted Mr. Mills, tossed the money at him, then returned home and called the police. 

Sharon Jenkins, a DNA analyst for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, testified that she did not find any sperm on the vaginal swabs from the rape kit, but that she did find some sperm on the girl’s underwear. Ms. Jenkins testified that she was unable to eliminate Mr. Mills as the source of the sperm.

On Jan. 27, 2000, the jury convicted Mr. Mills of rape as well as touching the girl’s vagina and breast and providing marijuana to a minor. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The Exoneration

After his convictions were upheld by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Mr. Mills filed a motion for a new trial alleging his trial lawyer had failed to provide an adequate legal defense because he did not hire a DNA expert to contest the State’s evidence. That was denied.

In 2005, after the denial had been upheld on appeal, Mr. Mills filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus. A federal defender was appointed to represent him and, working with attorney Bryce Benjet of the Innocence Project, successfully petitioned for DNA testing. 

Gary Harmor of the Serological Research Institute (SERI) reported that he found DNA on C.M.’s underwear from two unidentified males. Mr. Harmor said that C.M. and Mr. Mills both were excluded as contributing to this DNA. 

A hearing was held in May 2010. Mr. Harmor testified that Mr. Mills was excluded and said that Ms. Jenkins had given incorrect testimony when she said that her testing could not exclude Mr. Mills as the source of the sperm found on the C.M.’s underwear.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Agent Joe Minor, an expert in the field of serology and DNA analysis, testified that he had reviewed Mr. Harmor’s report.  “Based on the table and his presentation of the markers, the alleles that are present, his conclusions about these alleles [that they] did not come from Mr. Mills would be correct,” Agent Minor testified.

Mr. Mills testified and denied the crime.

In January 2011, Marshall County Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler vacated the rape conviction but declined to vacate the convictions of other sexual assault and drug charges. In February, Mr. Mills filed a notice of appeal. In May 2011, Mr. Mills was released.

In November 2013, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals vacated Mr. Mills’ remaining convictions and ordered a new trial. The court held that the new DNA evidence “casts at least some doubt on the accuracy of Jenkins’ results” and called into question not only whether Mr. Mills committed the rape, but any of the other crimes. 

On April 4, 2014, the Marshall County District Attorney General’s office dismissed the charges.