PA judge overturns convictions of three men accused of raping, killing elderly woman

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) — Three men who have been imprisoned for more than 25 years for allegedly raping and killing a 70-year-old woman are hoping to soon be released after new DNA evidence led a Pennsylvania judge to overturn those convictions.

More than 20 years ago, three Pennsylvania men, Derrick Chappell, Morton Johnson, and Sam Grasty, were all sentenced to life in prison for a gruesome murder in the city of Chester, just outside of Philadelphia.

The victim was 70-year-old Henrietta Nickens.

Authorities say she was beaten to death, and semen had been found inside of her.

All along, the three convicted men, dubbed 'the Chester Trio,' maintained their innocence.

“When you're offered to get out of jail in just a few years versus facing a potential life without parole sentence, to have that moral strength to push forward I think is so impressive,” one attorney said.

The prosecution's key witness was a 15-year-old who claimed he was the lookout and traded his testimony for a plea deal.

“He was young, cognitively impaired, he was under pressure from police with other charges."

The DNA from the semen found at the scene did not match any of the three men, according to court filings.

“None of their DNA was found, none of their DNA was there; they weren't in the apartment as alleged by the state."

In 2021, the attorneys tried a new tactic, using modern DNA testing techniques, to test a jacket left behind at the crime scene, which prosecutors tried to link to the men.

Once again, the attorneys say the DNA did not match the “Chester Trio.”

“All of the DNA comes back to a genetic profile that has been labeled unknown male number one. Law enforcement should be dedicating their resources to finding who unknown male number one is and bringing true justice to the victim in this case."

The prosecution argued they never tried to connect the semen to the defendants in the original trials, so the new evidence was moot.

In recent court filings, prosecutors said, "the totality of the evidence — including the post-conviction DNA evidence — is just as consistent, if not more consistent, with Ms. Nickens having consensual intercourse prior to the assault as it is with an unknown perpetrator committing both a rape and an assault."

“Their explanations do not hold water,” one of the attorneys said.

Last month, a Pennsylvania judge vacated each of their convictions and ordered a new trial.

Vanessa Potkin of the “Innocence Project” described the moment that Chappell and Johnson found out.

“They just went inside, and they hugged, and they cried, and this has been the moment that they have been fighting for."

The three men are still behind bars, waiting now to see if the district attorney's office decides to appeal or retry the case.

“You take all of their 20's away from them, their 30's and now they're all in their 40's and the idea that you would continue it? It's just such an injustice and it has to stop. It has to stop."

The Delaware County District Attorney's office hasn't commented on the overturned convictions.

Prosecutors have until April 27th to decide how to proceed.

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