Court assigns aid in rape appeal

The Arkansas Supreme Court appointed a criminal attorney to aid in what is expected to be a complicated appeal by a rapist who was convicted, in part, by expert testimony from the FBI that the FBI recently denounced.

Jeff Rosenzweig, a criminal defense lawyer based in Little Rock, was tapped by the state’s top court to handle a request for post- conviction relief for Lonnie Strawhacker, who is serving a life sentence for a rape in Washington County from 1989.

Strawhacker, 60, is one of hundreds of prisoners across the country whose fate could be altered after an ongoing review by the FBI, Department of Justice and the Innocence Project of criminal cases that relied on pre- DNA hair analysis, a form of expert analysis that has since been debunked as false science.

Prosecutors in Strawhacker’s case relied heavily on expert testimony from Michael Malone, a forensic hair analyst with the bureau, who testified at trial that the hair found in the victim’s bed was consistent with the defendant’s own hair.

Strawhacker lost several appeals after his February 1990 conviction, but in October 2014, he received a letter from the Department of Justice notifying him that Malone’s testimony was “false and invalid” as were other cases across the country.

Strawhacker petitioned the Arkansas Supreme Court to reinvest jurisdiction in his case so that the trial court is empowered to reexamine the case. He also asked them to appoint an attorney, which the court did in its order Thursday.

Reached by phone Thursday, Rosenzweig said that the Justice Department and FBI’s own admission that testimony from Malone and other “experts” was faulty is of obvious importance to convicts across the country and that he will move forward in figuring out the best procedural route for Strawhacker’s appeal.

Strawhacker remains incarcerated at the Cummins prison unity in Grady.