Man found innocent after 17 years in jail sues law enforcement

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man declared innocent of a
murder for which he spent almost 17 years behind bars has sued five
former agents and supervisors of the state’s law-enforcement
agency.

Attorneys for 49-year-old Greg Taylor filed the lawsuit Tuesday
in U.S. District Court in Raleigh. Among the five people sued is
Duane Deaver, whose testimony at Taylor’s groundbreaking innocence
hearing led to scathing findings about the State Bureau of
Investigation’s work.

In the lawsuit, Taylor says Deaver and another agent
deliberately misrepresented blood test results and that their
bosses knew that agents regularly did this. He is seeking
compensatory damages.

An attorney for Deaver says the agent wasn’t responsible for
documents the SBI provided prosecutors.

Spokeswomen for the SBI didn’t immediately return after hours
messages from The Associated Press Tuesday.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)