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Prosecutors withheld evidence to obtain death sentence, said defense
By Kara Covington - Sierra Times.com

KNOXVILLE, TENN- Imagine being convicted and sentenced to death for a murder you knew nothing about and were not even in the same county when the crime took place— that is exactly what death row inmate, Olen Hutchison, claimed he has been coping with since his conviction in 1990. ...

...According to Dana Hansen, an attorney with Federal Defender Services, prosecutors informed the jury that Hutchison knew about the murder in advance and helped to plan it because Huddleston owed him a large amount of money. However, Hansen said this was a false statement and the prosecution knew it at the time they presented the argument.

Hutchison had loaned Huddleston money but the date had not passed for the money to be returned, therefore Huddleston was not late on his payments to Hutchison and Hansen said prosectors knew this and withheld the evidence.

“Prosecutors have twice manipulated and withheld evidence, first to convict Hutchison, then to deny him his right to appeal,” said Hansen. ...