Woman Fired After Providing Document That Freed Innocent Man Jailed for Decades

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An assistant to a judge in Missouri says she was fired for providing a document that helped free a wrongfully convicted man, the Associated Press reports. The man freed was Robert Nelson, who was convicted in 1984 on charges of rape and robbery.

70-year-old Sharon Snyder was fired four weeks ago. But judicial officials say Snyder’s story is wrong. They say that Snyder was fired for violating rules prohibiting her from discussing court business with outsiders.

Snyder gave the wrongfully convicted man’s sister a copy of a motion from a different case last year. The motion detailed how a defendant was successful in getting DNA tests taken. Nelson had filed two motions for DNA tests but they were denied because they didn’t meet “technical requirements.”

Nelson was let out jail last month after DNA tests proved he was not one of the rapists in the 1984 incident.