DNA test exonerates 2nd man in 1993 rape case
MOULTRIE — A Moultrie man is free — with all charges against him dismissed — after serving 21 years in prison in connection with a 1993 rape/robbery case in Moultrie.
Sedrick Demetrius Moore, 48, along with Tyrone White and Kerry Robinson, was charged with the rape of a Southwest Moultrie woman. He was also charged with armed robbery, four counts of possession of a firearm during commission of a crime, aggravated sodomy and burglary. He was found not guilty on one of the counts of possession of a firearm during commission of a crime and the aggravated sodomy charge. Moore was sentenced to 50 years in prison in February 2002.
White took a plea deal and was sentenced to 15 years. Robinson was sentenced to 20 years, but he was exonerated and released in 2020.
Robinson’s exoneration was due to the GBI’s new DNA analysis of the evidence. Moore was also excluded as a match for the DNA evidence but was still connected to the crime through a statement from a neighbor of the victim that placed him in the area. The neighbor also picked him out of a line-up, according to court documents.
After a hearing in April of this year, Superior Court Judge Brian McDaniel overturned Moore’s conviction and granted him a new trial, based on new case findings.
On May 12, the Colquitt County Clerk of Court’s office received the motion for a new trial from Moore.
According to a Superior Court document, a motion to enter a Nolle Prosequi was filed by Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Robert Rogers on Aug. 25., on behalf of the Colquitt County District Attorney’s office. This motion states that the State declines to prosecute the case further. According to the document, “the ends of justice have been served.”
On Aug. 28, McDaniel signed the motion of Nolle Prosequi, which dismissed all charges, and Moore, who had been released on bond on Aug. 24, was a free man.