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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
Life imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
8.95 |
Year Crime: |
2010 |
Year Convicted: |
2012 |
Year Cleared: |
2021 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Texas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Harris |
City of Crime: |
Houston |
Result: |
Not Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Lydell Grant was wrongly convicted in 2012 of murder in the stabbing death of 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoorn outside the Blur Bar in the Montrose community of Houston, Texas on December 10, 2010. Grant's prosecution was based on the testimony of six eyewitnesses that Grant was the man who stabbed Scheerhoorn. After his conviction by a jury Grant was sentenced to life in prison. In 2019 biological matter obtained from under Sheerhorn's fingernails was tested for a DNA profile. The profile did not match Grant. Grant filed a motion to vacate his conviction and for a new trial based on the new exclusionary evidence. Grant was released on bail on November 26, 2019 while his case was reinvestigated by the Harris County District Attorney's Office. The FBI's DNA database found a match of the DNA found under Sheerhorn's fingernails to 41 year old Jermarico Carter. When Carter was interviewed, he admitted to killing Scheerhoorn. On December 19, 2019 Carter was charged with Scheerhoorn's murder based on the DNA evidence and his confession. The DA's Office announced it would file a motion in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for the dismissal of the charges against Grant. On May 20, 2021 the charges were dismissed against Grant." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
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Defendant Aided By: |
Innocence Project of Texas |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
33 |
Age When Released: |
42 |
Sex: |
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Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Lydell Grant, convicted in 2010 Montrose slaying, freed from prison as case is reinvestigated, By St. John Barned-Smith, Houston Chronicle, November 27, 2019" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Lydell-Grant-who-attorneys-say-was-wrongfully-14863704.php |
Information Source 2: |
"DNA test frees man serving life sentence for Houston murder, leads to new arrest, By Robert Gearty (Fox News), New York Post, December 22, 2019" |
Information Location 2: |
https://nypost.com/2019/12/22/dna-test-frees-man-serving-life-sentence-for-houston-murder-leads-to-new-arrest/ |
Information Source 3: |
"IPTX: Our Client Lydell Grant Has Been Exonerated, By Innocence Project of Texas, May 28, 2021" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.blackstarnews.com/us-politics/justice/iptx-our-client-lydell-grant-has-been-exonerated.html |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org