The Durham district attorney’s office filed notice yesterday to appeal a recent order by Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando F. Hudson Jr. overturning the conviction of Darryl Howard, who is currently serving an 80-year prison sentence for the 1991 double-murder of a mother and daughter.
In his order earlier this week, Hudson ruled that prosecutor Mike Nifong, then an assistant district attorney, failed to disclose to Howard’s defense attorneys a potentially exculpatory police memo, and that he and a police detective made misleading statements to the jury. New DNA evidence has since suggested that the murders were not committed by Howard, but by another man, who had a history of violent felonies.
The DA’s filing for appeal yesterday also seeks a stay on Hudson’s order to retry Howard.
