A ruling published today by Douglas County District Court Judge Richard Spethman has effectively reopened the 35 year old wrongful conviction of Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa [formerly, David Rice].  The ruling was made on a petition filed by Ed Poindexter's attorney, Robert Bartle of Lincoln, Nebraska.  The petition requested an order from the court to compel a voice exemplar [sample] from Duane Peak, the then 15 year-old who testified at trial that he made the 911 call that lured police to a vacant home at 28th & Ohio Streets in 1970 where Omaha Police Officer Larry Minard was killed when a booby-trapped suitcase exploded.  At trial, the Omaha Police Department testified that the 911 tape was not available.  It was later learned from an FBI document obtained under a Freedom of Information request, that the 911 tape had been suppressed as part of the effort to frame both Poindexter and we Langa for the murder.  Mondo we Langa has exhausted his "post conviction relief" and Ed Poindexter is now in the early phases of his post conviction relief efforts.  Poindexter and we Langa have maintained their innocence for the past 35 years and have maintained that Duane Peak did not make the 911 telephone call that night.  Persons who have heard the tape have said that the voice on the tape is not that of a juvenile.  Assistant Douglas County Attorney Brent Bloom argued against Bartle's petition, saying that any voice comparison would not be admissible in court.  Judge Spethman disagreed with Broom, saying "That determination is reserved for future proceedings."  The Douglas County Attorney's office is considering an appeal of Judge Spethman's order.  Bartle says that he thinks the voice comparison will set his client free.  Bartle is now faced with the considerable task of getting a court in Spokane, Washington to compel Peak [who has changed his first name to Gabriel] to provide the voice sample.  Peak has refused to return reporters' phone calls seeking comment.

To read the Court Order in it's entirety, please click here.