COLORADO SPRINGS — A Colorado man who was imprisoned for 14 years after being accused of two killings is free on bond after a judge overturned his convictions and a new trial date was set.
Tim Kennedy, 52, posted $250,000 bond Friday night and was released from the El Paso County jail.
“We don’t believe that he’ll spend another day in a jail or a prison because he’s an innocent man,” said John Dicke, who has represented Kennedy since March 2008.
Kennedy was convicted in 1997 of the 1991 shooting deaths of 15-year-old Jennifer Carpenter and her boyfriend, 37-year-old Steve Staskiewicz.
In April, El Paso District Judge Thomas Kane, who presided over Kennedy’s trial, overturned his convictions, partly because no DNA evidence tied him to the crimes.
He also cited flawed evidence and prosecutors’ failure to turn over evidence to the defense.
Prosecutors said they would put Kennedy on trial again on Sept. 21.
Prosecutors have maintained that Kennedy is guilty, and that the method of DNA testing used in his case is unreliable.
“This man is dangerous,” Dan Zook, an assistant district attorney in El Paso County, said this week while arguing that Kennedy should be held without bond.
“I believe he is a danger to the community.”
