A man who has spent 28 years in prison for the rape and murder of a Georgetown law student might walk out of prison on Tuesday after DNA evidence implicated another man.
Donald Gates was convicted of the savage 1981 attack on 21-year-old Catherine Schilling as she walked home from work through Rock Creek Park. He has always maintained his innocence.
Two separate DNA tests have vindicated him and prosecutors are preparing to have him released during a hearing in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday, a top law enforcement source told The Examiner.
Prosecutors relied on the testimony of a now-discredited FBI hair analyst to convict Gates, but two separate DNA labs reported last week that the semen found on Schilling’s body doesn’t belong to Gates. Prosecutors aren’t officially dropping charges because they’re waiting for one more DNA analysis, the law enforcement source said.
Editor’s note: Gates spent 28 years in prison, not 25 as originally stated.
