Man's Freedom After 37 Years In Prison Postponed

UPDATE: 11:27 a.m.

A judge in Iredell Country issued a release for Norman Satterfield. However, court officials found another conviction that could keep him in prison for another two years. 

ORIGINAL STORY: 

A Statesville man serving a life sentence for rape was expected to be released after serving more than three decades in prison.

Norman Satterfield, 60, has maintained his innocence of charges of rape and burglary that have kept him imprisoned since 1979.

This comes three years after he wrote a letter to the Wake Forest Innocence and Justice Clinic, asking them to look into his case. Satterfield's release is the biggest success in the program's seven-year history, says clinic director Mark Rabil.

It was a case in which the most damning evidence against him was also the most questionable.

An Iredell County jury convicted Satterfield based largely on the testimony from the victim, who on the stand said she was sure Satterfield was her attacker.

But Rabil says before the trial she wasn't so certain. He says she told police she had a “mental block” and couldn't be sure if her attacker was Satterfield or another man.

So she underwent hypnosis to try to jog her memory – which was legal at the time but has since been barred as evidence by the courts.

It was only after the procedure that she was able to say with confidence that Satterfield was the perpetrator.

And his attorneys knew nothing about it.

Rabil says if they had known, they could have raised questions about the testimony. He says such testimony is unreliable.

“People are basically told what to say, I guess that's the bluntest way to put it,” he says. “Because during hypnosis you are very, very suggestible as to what your memories are.”

As a result of the issues raised by clinic's student investigators, prosecutors have agreed to release Satterfield for time served – which has now reached 37 years. He's been most recently incarcerated at the Forsyth Correctional Center in Winston-Salem.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that Satterfield had been released. The judge had signed the release order, but he never walked free.