Nation : ‘Blue Line’ Murder Verdict Upset

AUSTIN, Tex. —  The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today reversed the murder conviction of Randall Dale Adams, who has spent 12 years in prison for the killing of a Dallas police officer in “The Thin Blue Line” case.

Court officials said Adams’ case will now go back to Dallas County where officials will have to decide whether to prosecute him again. Adams, who has claimed that a teen-ager who picked up him up while hitchhiking did the killing, now is eligible to be freed on bond. The appeals court concluded that Adams did not get a fair trial and was denied due process. Adams’ case was the subject of a documentary movie, “The Thin Blue Line,” that presented evidence that Adams was innocent of the 1976 shooting death of Dallas policeman Robert Wood.