All Charges Dropped Against Man, 63, Who Served 34 Years In Jail For Rape & Murder Of 15-Year-Old Girl In 1976

All charges have been dropped against an Indiana County man
who served 34 years in jail for the killing of a 15-year-old girl in 1976. Lewis
Fogle, 63, was released from SCI Pine Grove in Pennsylvania on bond after a
judge vacated his murder conviction based on new DNA evidence last month.

Senior Judge David Grine freed Fogle from prison on $25,000
unsecured bond in August but granted the prosecutor’s request to be given a
month to determine if there was enough evidence to retry Fogle on a
second-degree murder charge.

Today, Indiana County District Attorney Patrick Dougherty
agreed to dismiss all charges against Fogle in the rape and murder of Deann
Katherine Long in 1976.

The judge’s decision stemmed from a joint motion by the New
York-based Innocence Project and Dougherty.

Fogle was arrested alongside three other men in 1981 after
Long, of Cherry Tree, Indiana County, was raped and shot in the head in July
1976.  He was the only one to stand trial
and was 30 years old with a pregnant wife and an infant son when he was
convicted a year later.

The teenager’s body was found in a rural area a short
distance from her home a day after she was last seen.

The newly discovered DNA findings that freed Fogle found
that he was not the source of semen found on the young girl’s body.

Now, Fogle says he hopes anyone who was involved will be
brought to justice.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Fogle said he was
pleased that his ordeal was over and that he has spoken to Long’s family since
being freed.

‘I told them I wished it had never happened in the first
place,’ he said.

‘They know I’m innocent, they even told me so. I told them I
would help bring the truth out. I’m not going to rest until that happens,’ he
said.