TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jan 7, 2022

Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton yesterday filed an order vacating murder and child rape convictions against Joyce Watkins and Charles Dunn, the Tennessean reports. The pair were convicted in the late 1980s of killing a four-year old girl who was related to Watkins. Both received life sentences. Dunn died in custody in 2015. The Tennessee Innocence Project and the District Attorney's Conviction Review Unit both conducted extensive investigations into the case, leading the defense and prosecutors to agree that Watkins and Dunn were innocent. The reviews showed shoddy investigative work, unreliable medical evidence from now-disgraced pathologists, and hints of racism from then-prosecutors toward the Black defendants. The matter will need to go back to court one last time for charges to be formally dismissed. The Nashville Scene has more about the original case.