By Mallory Simon
Court TV

For 13 years, Lynn DeJac insisted she did not strangle and kill her 13-year-old daughter, even though a jury found her guilty.

On Wednesday, DeJac walked out of an Erie County, N.Y., courthouse a free woman after a judge overturned her conviction based on new DNA evidence implicating her former boyfriend in the killing.

A judge's decision to vacate the verdict and order a new trial made her the first woman in the U.S. to have a murder conviction overturned on the basis of DNA evidence.

When Judge John Michalski ordered DeJac, 44, released on her own recognizance, she broke down in tears. Michalski's order was greeted with applause by the people gathered in the courtroom.

DeJac was convicted in 1994 of second-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Crystallin Girard, on Feb. 14, 1993, whom she said she found dead after a night spent drinking and barhopping in Buffalo.

DeJac maintained that she had gotten into a fight with her then-boyfriend, Dennis Donahue, after trying to break up with him the night before, according to her police statement. She said that, when she called police on Feb. 13 to complain that Donahue would not leave her home, he slapped the phone away from her.

After that, Donahue followed DeJac to several bars, and their conversation eventually turned violent, according to court documents.
Andrew LoTempio, DeJac's lawyer, told CourtTVnews.com that Donahue spent the night "stalking" DeJac, trying to force her to talk to him. DeJac told police that one day before her daughter's murder Donahue had an argument with the girl.

DeJac also told detectives that Donahue became violent that night when she refused to speak to him. She said he pulled a pocketknife on a man with whom she was flirting.

When DeJac checked on Crystallin Girard at about 5 a.m. on Feb. 14 before leaving for the home of a man she had met that night, the girl was alive, DeJac told police.

But when she returned home shortly before noon, she said she found the outside kitchen door open and her daughter naked and dead in her bedroom.

LoTempio said he always believed Donahue killed Crystallin, but he didn't get the break he needed until September, when he saw a news report that Donahue had been arrested in the slaying of another Buffalo woman he had dated.

Because of the similarities in the killings, LoTempio immediately asked the Buffalo cold case squad to reexamine the evidence in Crystallin's murder.
DNA tests — which were not available in 1994, when DeJac was tried — found a man's DNA in blood smears on the wall and bedding in Crystallin's bedroom. DNA was also found inside her vagina.

Though cold-case detectives now say they believe Donahue is responsible for the murder, he cannot be charged because he received immunity for his testimony against DeJac.

Much of the prosecution's case against DeJac focused on the testimony of neighbors who portrayed her as a promiscuous woman and bad mother who often left her child alone.

"She's not going to win the Good Housekeeping seal of approval or mother of the year, but that doesn't make her a killer," LoTempio said.
Erie County Prosecutor Frank Clark said he plans to retry DeJac on a charge of second-degree manslaughter. If DeJac is convicted, she would not return to prison, because she has already served the maximum sentence for that charge.

"The question of guilt or innocence hasn't been answered," Clark said during a press conference Wednesday. "That's why we have trials."
LoTempio said he believes a new jury would find her not guilty based on the new evidence. He added that, although DeJac could plead guilty to avoid another trial, she won't do that.

"She wants vindication. She wants someone to say she didn't do this," LoTempio said. "But if she loses, she's in no better or worse shape than she is now, because she can't go back to jail."

After leaving the courthouse Wednesday, DeJac told reporters she planned to visit her daughter's grave.

She also will need to reconnect with her two sons, who were born during her first year in prison, and the rest of her family. She has never met her grandchildren or her first son's wife.

"I just want to go and be with my family and try to make up for some of the time that was lost," she said.

First for a woman: DNA frees mother convicted of killing daughter on CourtTVnews.com

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It just seems like a rape kit should have been done on the girl and a full examination of her body since she was found naked. Sexual assault would have been a given? I understand they didnt have the DNA technology back in 1994 but I thought they could test for rape or sexual assault or trauma to tissue? It just seems like some obvious details were missed.

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

Sad those yrs lost while her daughter had been killed to boot.Thank God for DNA it has been a blessing in so many ways.

Makes one wonder in yrs past how many that were really innocent and spent their life inside, or got the DP. Not to mention all the smug remarks and no one listened saying, yeh, they all claim to be innocent. Guess, a good percentage were is what DNA isproving today for too many inside.

Makes my mind go back to the days" centrys," as far as medical, how many were buried alive just thought were dead ...........................saw a documentary on that not long ago,,,

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I agree. It seems like DNA is openeing the doors to so many cases where the ball was dropped somewhere along in the investigation.

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DNA has also implicated people in crimes much later as well as vindicated some. I’m always amazed at how crime scenes can be corrupted and items of evidence tampered with or else ignored altogether. Its much better nowadays because they can test for so much more that they couldn’t have years prior. DNA is not always available however. I think it’s almost expected by a lot of juries because there are so many of these crime shows. Sometimes its there, sometimes it isn’t.

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

So does this mean other doors are open and Lynn can claim a compensation case against the state for wrongful incarceration/conviction?
I know of some high profile cases being compensated, but do most go unrecognized? What happens in those cases to the men and women that are set free?

I am pleased Lynn was able to walk from the court room, but still feel that if she would of been home or had someone care for the child, then maybe it would of been a different outcome to this tragic story.
No wonder the ex boyfriend made a plea to testify against Lynn in this case. I honestly think that if new evidence like this comes to light then ALL deals should be off.
Reminds me of the young Canadian girl(?) that was testifying against the boyfriend and made a deal only to have the police/detectives find video tapes to speak for themselves. She is now out of prison and living life happily married. I think someone posted not long ago about her??

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The last of all freedoms is the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.
G. W. Allport.

I’m not sure. I haven’t heard anything and this article is mainly just about her release. Im not sure how the new charges of second degree manslaughter will sit with that. If she loses then any compensary award for wrongful imprisonment would certainly be offset by that sentencing. They will just say we were off a little and you served a little more than you should have. Hard to say. And Donahue the boyfriend who killed her daughter is now being held for this other woman’s murder in Buffalo anyway.

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

I'm just thinking out loud here, but it seems to me that if the boyfriend testified against the mother, and new evidence proves (or could prove) that HE was the killer, the DA should be able to charge him with perjury (he clearly lied under oath). Once they get a conviction on perjury, that should negate the immunity agreement and open him up for prosecution.

Again, just a knee-jerk response, without researching it, but that's where I think this could go.

One could only hope LD.

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The last of all freedoms is the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.
G. W. Allport.

I thought they was able to do this? what about the murder itself?

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I need coffee