Say What?

There are stories today about a hearing in Collin County regarding the attempt to free Michael Blair (based upon DNA evidence) who was convicted in the 1993 killing of a 7-year-old Plano girl. Two paragraphs jumped out at me in the Channel 8 story.

The district attorney also approved a hearing to bring in Charles Linch, a forensic analyst who served as a witness for the State in Blair's [previous] trial, for a meeting with defense attorneys. Linch, who now lives in Virginia, had been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital several months before his testimony at the 1994 trial, and defense attorneys say his mental condition tainted his testimony, which ultimately helped convict Blair.

Say what? The State used a witness that had been committed to the nut house? That's a new one for me.

Then there was this:

Even if Blair were granted a new trial and cleared, he would never be freed from prison because he is serving three consecutive life sentences for sex crimes involving children.

He's never getting out - why waste our time - although I suppose history deserves to know whether he is the killer or not.