Chris's Crime Forum

Results could exonerate man

BY JOHN A. TORRES
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Awaiting results. William Dillon, left, and his lawyer Frank Clarke appear in court in 1981. Evidence used to convict Dillon now is being tested for DNA. 1981 FLORIDA TODAY file




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Blood-stained clothing is among the evidence in a 26-year-old murder case that was recently shipped from Brevard County evidence lockers to a DNA lab in Texas. Convicted murderer William Dillon is hoping the results will exonerate him or help grant him a new trial.



Tests being conducted at a DNA lab in Texas may soon reveal whether convicted killer William Dillon's blood is on crucial evidence that was used to convict him 26 years ago.

After months of wrangling between defense attorneys and state prosecutors over language, Judge David Dugan last week signed an order to have the testing done.

The defense claims the DNA testing will prove that Dillon had nothing to do with the 1981 murder of James Dvorak in Indian Harbour Beach
Police said the killing occurred during a robbery gone wrong at Canova Beach Park.

"Finally, DNA testing, which can prove Mr. Dillon's innocence, has begun," said attorney Richard Junnier of the Florida Innocence Project. "Once test results favorable to Mr. Dillon are reported, he will be exonerated and should be immediately released."

Both Junnier and Assistant Public Defender Mike Pirolo maintain that favorable DNA testing results should be enough to set Dillon free.

They point to Dillon's girlfriend -- a key witness for the state -- who, investigations revealed, slept with the lead investigator and who later recanted her testimony.

They also point to questionable evidence presented by a dog handler who was later proven to be a fraud, causing numerous cases to be overturned.

But another focus of the prosecution was blood-stained clothes, including a heavily stained yellow surfing T-shirt, that they said belonged to Dillon.

Assistant State Attorney Wayne Holmes has said there was other strong evidence in the case and that DNA results alone may not be enough to set Dillon free.

Dillon has long maintained his innocence and asked the Innocence Project to help clear the way for evidence to be tested for DNA, something that was not available during his trial.

At a hearing earlier this month, Dugan expressed frustration that he approved testing in July and both sides could not agree on the wording of the testing order.

Regardless, fellow prosecutor Rob Parker said he is eager to see what the results yield.

"The bottom line is that I don't have expectations other than what I know from his prosecution" in 1981, Parker said. "We are as genuinely interested in the results as anyone can be. We don't want to see an innocent man in prison."

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Lawyer may hold off on Dillon hearing

The attorney for a man serving a life sentence for murder may delay trying to prove the man's innocence through DNA evidence in hopes of naming a new suspect.

Assistant Public Defender Mike Pirolo will let Judge David Dugan know this week whether he will proceed with the case he has or continue an investigation.

Pirolo announced last week that he was interviewing state inmates with supposed knowledge of the 1981 murder of James Dvorak of Indian Harbour Beach. He also told the court he had yet to enter critical DNA evidence into a database that could identify someone else as the murderer.

Pirolo represents William Dillon, 49, formerly of Satellite Beach. Dillon was sentenced to life in prison for Dvorak's murder but maintains his innocence. DNA testing completed this summer on a T-shirt believed to have been worn by the murderer and stained with the victim's blood may exclude Dillon from
having worn the shirt.

Pirolo's announcement seemed to catch Dugan off guard.

"I'm kind of shocked the testing has not been done and has not been put into a database, and we're 11 months into this," Dugan said. "Mr. Dillon needs a hearing."

Dillon has already been moved from the Hardee Correctional Institution to the Brevard County Detention Center in anticipation of the Nov. 20 evidentiary hearing he hopes will clear him.

"Our position is that Mr. Dillon was excluded from the shirt," Pirolo told Dugan. "Our burden is not to show who did it but to show that Dillon did not do it."

Yet, he added that he was willing to take a chance, which he put at 5 percent, to try and find a DNA match.

Some have come forward in recent months offering tips or leads as to who may have killed Dvorak. One local woman -- a rape victim in the 1980s -- said authorities should test the DNA against a man sent to prison for raping her. She said the man matches the description of Dvorak's killer more than Dillon did.

Others believe Dvorak may have been victimized by serial killer Ottis Toole or his partner, Henry Lee Lucas. Both, who have since died, are believed to have passed through Brevard in the same general time frame as Dvorak's murder.

Toole confessed to killing 6-year-old Adam Walsh -- son of television's John Walsh -- but died in prison.

In order for DNA results to be entered into a state or nationwide database of criminals known as CODUS, the testing would have to be done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or another approved lab. Pirolo said he was worried that giving the evidence to FDLE now would take too long.

Assistant State Attorney Wayne Holmes said he offered the use of the FDLE lab more than a year ago.

Contact Torres at 242-3649 or jtorres@floridatoday.com

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DNA testing brings new trial in Fla. murder case

VIERA, Fla. -- A man who spent 27 years in prison for murder will get a new trial because of DNA evidence.

William Dillon, 49, was serving a life sentence for killing James Dvorak in 1981 at Indian Harbor Beach. Police said he was bludgeoned to death in a robbery.

A judge ordered the new trial Friday. Dillon's lawyers say DNA testing shows Dillon did not wear the killer's T-shirt. An eyewitness identified the shirt spattered with the victim's blood.

His 27 years equals the longest time in prison of the 223 people already exonerated by DNA nationally.

Dillon will be jailed pending a bond hearing Tuesday. His retrial is set for January, but his lawyers predicted the state will drop the charge.


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William Dillon

State Won't Retry Dillon For 1981 Murder
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 – updated: 5:39 pm EST December 10, 2008

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- The state announced Wednesday afternoon that it will not retry William Dillon for the 1981 murder he spent 27 years in jail for before being released in November due to the discovery of new evidence.

"After detailed and careful analysis and a substantial amount of work locating the individuals who testified in 1981 and re-interviewing them, we have arrived at the conclusion that a jury today would not find Mr. Dillon guilty beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt," State Attorney Norman Wolfinger said.


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Nine witnesses in the 1981 trial are now dead and another has medical issues that would prevent testifying. Therefore, a retrial, the state said, would involve mostly a reading of prior trial testimony.

On Wednesday, prosecutors filed a document formally dismissing the case against William Dillon.

"He just said they just dropped the charges. I could hear it in his voice. He's a free man. He doesn't have to live with this over his head anymore and he can get on with his life," Dillon's brother Joe told Eyewitness News.

Dillon spent 27 years in prison for the bludgeoning death of James Dvorak before being released last month to await a new trial.

New tests showed Dillon's DNA was not on the bloodstained T-shirt presented as key evidence during his trial.

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