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Judge orders new trial for death row inmate
David Gainey, 37, was convicted July 9, 1999, of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery in the March 3, 1998, shooting death of Dwayne Winfield McNeill.
Posted — UpdatedLILLINGTON, N.C. — A Superior Court judge has ordered a new trial for a Harnett County man on death row for the 1998 murder of a Lillington man.
David Gainey, 37, was convicted July 9, 1999, of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery in the March 3, 1998, shooting death of Dwayne Winfield McNeill.
Judge Gregory Weeks ruled in favor of a defense motion that Gainey's attorneys, at the time, failed to properly investigate the circumstances behind multiple confessions he made and that the lead prosecutor in the case withheld evidence that Gainey's younger brother could have killed McNeill.
Weeks said inconsistencies in Gainey's statements suggested he was making up the confession or that he had been coerced.
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