Detective at the Center of Wrongful Convictions of Keith Hardin and Jeff Clark Retires
02.28.18 By Innocence Staff
Keith Hardin and Jeffrey Clark were wrongfully convicted in 1995 and spent more than 20 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit. They were exonerated in February 2018. Photo: Maggie Huber.
The Louisville Courier Journal is reporting that Detective Mark Handy, who was involved in at least three wrongful conviction cases, is retiring as Deputy Sheriff of Jefferson County, Kentucky. The announcement follows the exonerations earlier this week of Innocence Project client Keith Hardin and Innocence Project of Kentucky client Jeff Clark, who both served more than 20 years for a murder DNA and other evidence proved they didn’t commit.
In moving to dismiss the indictments against Hardin and Clark, the attorney general acknowledged serious concerns with regard to Handy’s credibility. Handy was earlier investigated for falsifying the confession of Edwin Chandler, who served 10 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. According to the Courier Journal, Louisville agreed to pay Chandler $8.5 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit after his lawyers secured evidence that Handy fed Chandler facts to use in the confession and had taped over surveillance video that might have identified the real suspect.
The moving to dismiss the indictment against Hardin and Clark, the attorney general wrote, “Put bluntly, the Commonwealth cannot put credibility into an unrecorded statement taken by a detective who has a documented history of fabricating details of a murder case in his investigative summaries.” The attorney general has also called for a review of the other cases handled by Handy.
The Courier Journal also notes that the Louisville was sued on February 22 by Shamaeka Shaw, who claims that Handy “fabricated criminal offenses and intentionally lied under oath in an effort to humiliate her and have her wrongfully convicted in a manner consistent with his playbook in so many other cases.”
Handy’s retirement become official at midnight. Read the full Courier Journal story here.
An Amazon wish list has been set up for Keith Hardin. Those wishing to help Hardin as he begins to rebuild his life can make a contribution here.
Leave a Reply
Thank you for visiting us. You can learn more about how we consider cases here. Please avoid sharing any personal information in the comments below and join us in making this a hate-speech free and safe space for everyone.
March 25, 2018 at 11:56 pm
March 3, 2018 at 12:57 am
Great – a crooked state employee retires on full benefits after sending several people to prison UNJUSTLY, for crimes they did not commit. How about if Detective Handy spends a few years behind bars to get a taste of what he did to innocent people?
What a POS.
He needs all of his rights taken away just like he did to all of them innocent people. He shouldn’t get retirement. They should strip him of everything. I hope they will do the right thing. You know our laws. The innocent is proven guilty until someone fights long enough for them to be proven innocent. Laws need to change. And people wonder why this world is so screwed up. Just one person’s opinion. I say thank God for the innocence project.