This browser does not support the Video element.
New motion challenges 1989 murder conviction
Attorneys are pushing to free a Largo man who they say was wrongfully convicted of several crimes almost 40 years ago. FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.
LARGO, Fla. - Attorneys are pushing to free a Largo man who they say was wrongfully convicted of several crimes almost 40 years ago.
Kevin Herrick, 59, has been serving a life sentence for a 1989 burglary and sexual battery.
Herrick's legal team has filed a motion for post-conviction relief, in an attempt to have his case revisited, and potentially get him a new trial.
The backstory:
In 1989, Herrick's attorneys say the Largo Police Department responded to a triplex on Audubon Drive one night.
A woman reported that she'd woken up to a man trying to sexually assault her. Herrick's attorneys say the suspect stabbed the woman's boyfriend as he tried to intervene, then took off.
"The boyfriend chased him," Herrick's attorney, Scott Cupp said. "According to the police reports, he said he chased him down about three houses, where he lost him when he jumped over a fence. He went up to the fence. Shortly thereafter, he comes back to the apartment, to the triplex, and he's yelling. According to witnesses, he was yelling a license plate and telling people to write it down to give to the police."
Herrick lived in the unit next door with a friend and the friend's grandmother. His attorneys say he'd only been living there for a few weeks.
"The police indicated that they told the victims that they found bloody clothes in Kevin's room and a knife with blood on it," Cupp said. "Both of those things were, in fact, not true. There were no bloody clothes in Kevin's room, and the knife that they found there was a knife, but there was no blood on it. What appeared to be blood was later found out to be dirt or mud."
However, Herrick was charged with armed burglary, sexual battery and aggravated battery.
He was convicted at trial in 1990 and sentenced to life in prison.
What they're saying:
"There's a lot I don't know, but what I do know is, Kevin is innocent," Cupp said. "He did not do this."
Cupp first learned of Herrick's case in 2022, while he was working on a wrongful conviction case involving Herrick's former roommate in prison, Leo Schofield.
The attorney says none of the physical evidence obtained in the investigation links Herrick to the crime.
"This was, what I would say, an unsophisticated attack, no mask, no gloves," Cupp said. "There's a knife, there's blood. There were six prints left. None of them come back to Kevin."
Cupp is a former prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, who's worked on cases across Florida.
Cupp says Herrick had a prior, unrelated burglary on his criminal record. He believes Herrick was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"They knew who was there," Cupp said. "The wild card, the person they didn't know was Kevin. One of the first things they're going to do is they're going to run his record and go, 'Oh, this guy's got a burglary.'"
Cupp believes Herrick was failed by the criminal justice system.
Dig deeper:
Herrick's attorney says there's other evidence in this case that needs to be revisited.
Cupp says Herrick provided DNA evidence that wasn't linked to the crime.
Herrick's legal team also points to concerns over the fairness of his original trial.
"I presided over, defended and prosecuted DUIs that have longer trial transcripts than Kevin's case," Cupp said. "Anybody can read it. And when you read it, just first time through, it just doesn't pass [the] sniff test."
Post-conviction process
Herrick's attorneys have filed a motion for post-conviction relief.
They want the state attorney's office to revisit Herrick's case.
"The hope is that they take a good, hard look at this and reach out to us," Cupp said. "And we discuss about, what's thrown around all the time, about doing the right thing. And the right thing is to get Kevin out of prison as soon as possible."
Cupp says this can be a years-long process. He says it can take years to simply get a judge to rule on the motion.
Ultimately, a judge could eventually grant Herrick a new trial.
"What I pray for Kevin is that one day soon, before it's too late, that he's able to hold his mother, and she's able hold him as a free man," Cupp said.
What's next:
FOX 13 reached out to the state attorney's office about Herrick's case and will update this story when we hear back.
The Source: Information was gathered from Herrick's legal team and an interview conducted with one of his attorneys.