Tennessee Innocence Project, DA ask judge to overturn rape, murder convictions from 1980s

Two people convicted of a horrific crime in the late 1980s may have their names cleared.

Joyce Watkins and Charles Dunn were convicted in the brutal rape and murder of a young child, a relative of Watkins', and received heavy prison sentences.

Dunn died in custody years later.

"We can't give these people justice, but we can acknowledge what happened to them and finally clear their names," Tennessee Innocence Project's Jason Gichner said.

The Tennessee Innocence Project and the District Attorney's Conviction Review Unit agreed the original trial included serious missteps that undermine confidence in the convictions.

In filings last month after reviewing the case, both defense and prosecutors say Watkins and Dunn are innocent of the charges.

They jointly asked Nashville Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton to review the case. Dalton heard testimony Friday morning and announced she would take the case under advisement and issue a written ruling. She did not indicate a date for that ruling.

Watkins, now 74, appeared in court Friday in an gray skirt suit and pearls.

She took the stand briefly, insisting on her and Dunn's innocence when Gichner asked.

"Are you innocent of these charges?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes," she said.

Dozens packed the courtroom Friday morning in support of Dunn, many of them his nieces, nephews and grandchildren.

Charles Dunn's oldest son, William Davis Dunn, died in December 2012, according to his widow, Teresa Dunn.

"I know they're rejoicing in heaven right now," Teresa Dunn said. "He maintained his innocence. He didn't do it. But what can you do when no one is investigating it?"

Dunn's family learned Friday that Watkins was offered a deal before their trial in 1988. If she said Dunn committed the crime, Watkins would get a lighter sentence.

But she didn't agree to it. "He was innocent," she said Friday.

Gasps could be heard in the gallery when Gichner shared the terms of the plea deal offered to Watkins that family and friends previously had not heard of.

Court files show family members, including the child's mother, repeatedly spoke on Watkins' behalf over the years, insisting on her innocence.

Watkins was the child's great aunt, Dunn her longtime boyfriend. Neither had a previous criminal record, and they both held steady jobs, according to the CRU, Tennessee Innocence Project reports and news coverage at the time.

An inaccurate assessment of the injury timeline made it was hard to believe there was time for anyone else to have access to the child before her death, the Tennessee Innocence Project filing said.

Tennessee's current top forensic pathologist, using updated investigative techniques, said while there's no way to determine precisely when the child was assaulted, it was likely before Watkins and Dunn picked her up.

Dr. Adele Lewis, state chief medical examiner, testified Friday that the analysis used in the original trial was wrong.

At trial, the jurors were told police in Kentucky thoroughly investigated all other suspects and eliminated them. The prosecutor told the jury they were looking at the worst of humanity.

But the new review shows the Kentucky investigation was perfunctory at best.

"How does something like this happen? How did two innocent people spend 27 years in prison for something they didn't do? The simple answer, your honor, is that no one was told the truth," Gichner said.

Watkins has never stopped fighting.

She has maintained her innocence for 34 years, according to her attorneys. She attempted to appeal the ruling in 1994 but was denied.

"She lost her home, she lost her job, she lost her chance to be a mom and then she lost the next three decades of her life...she can't vote, she can't leave the state without permission, she lost half her life for something she didn't do," Gichner said.

In 2015, Watkins was released on parole with restrictions under the terms of the sex offender registry. That same year, Dunn died in prison.

"Charlie's family never got to see him walk out of prison," Gichner noted.

Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk joined the plea to overturn the pair's convictions.

"I believe they were actually innocent," he said in court Friday. "I cannot give them the life of their years back. But I can do what I can to clear their names."

Reach reporter Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Innocence Project, DA ask judge to clear Watkins and Dunn