U.S. District Court Judge Harry S. Mattice Jr. ordered that former death

U.S. District Court Judge Harry S. Mattice Jr. ordered that former death row inmate Paul House, who suffers multiple sclerosis and must use a wheelchair, should be released. Judge Mattice Jr. ordered House be placed into the custody of his mother after a May 28 hearing where the court will set the conditions of his freedom. The 46-year-old inmate, who has spent more than 20 years on death row, has seen the precarious balance of justice since he was sentenced to death for the murder and rape of Carolyn Muncey in Union County, in July 1985. Muncey’s bludgeoned body was found at the bottom of an embankment and her husband was the initial suspect. But later, House, who had served time in jail for aggravated sexual assault, became the prime suspect and was arrested. He was sentenced to death in 1986. 2 decades later, DNA evidence — semen collected from Muncey's nightgown and underwear — revealed House did not rape her. The DNA belonged to her husband. House also alleged that the blood on House's jeans was either accidentally or intentionally spilled from a vial of Muncey's blood taken at her autopsy. He also presented witnesses who said Muncey's husband confessed to killing his wife. House's claims of innocence were repeatedly rejected until June 2006, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a jury, hearing all of the new evidence, might well find him innocent. That ruling sent the case to Mattice, who since has affirmed that House's constitutional rights to a fair trial were violated. He ordered a new trial. The state Attorney General's Office appealed.