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Daniel McNair

Other South Carolina Exonerations
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In 1985, Daniel McNair called 911 after his wife, Sandra Carr, passed out and fell to the floor in their home in Lancaster, South Carolina.

A pathologist conducted an autopsy and concluded that Carr, who had facial injuries, had died after being struck in the head. Another resident of the home told police that Carr and McNair had been arguing before Carr was found on the floor.

McNair was charged with murder and went on trial in 1986 in Lancaster County Circuit Court. Based on the autopsy findings, the pathologist testified that Carr had been beaten. McNair’s call to 911 was played for the jury during which he was vague about what had happened. The defense contended that McNair was vague because his wife was on supervised release for a cocaine conviction and he feared she would be jailed again for drug use.

The jury convicted McNair and he was sentenced to life in prison.

In 1997, McNair reached out to Columbia, South Carolina attorney Tara Shurling because she had provided assistance to a fellow inmate of McNair. Shurling sent the autopsy results to three different pathologists, all of whom concluded that Carr had died when her brain began to bleed and caused a piece of brain tissue to tear.

The pathologists agreed independently that hemorrhage caused Carr to become unconscious and she collapsed on the floor face first. The hemorrhage was in the deep center of Carr’s brain and the rest of Carr’s brain was not damaged—as it would have been had she been beaten.

In 1999, the reports of the independent pathologists were submitted to prosecutors. Dr. Sandra Conradi, the pathologist whose testimony had convicted McNair, examined the findings and revised her original opinion to say that the facial injuries could have been the result of a fall due to a brain hemorrhage instead of a beating.

“The manner of death of Sandra Carr is best designated as undetermined,” Conradi said in an affidavit. “Head trauma from an assault could not be ruled out as a cause or contributing factor in Carr’s death.”

Shurling filed a motion for a new trial based on the medical evidence and on June 30, 2000, a judge granted the motion. The prosecution dismissed the charges immediately and McNair was released. McNair later filed a fedeal civil rights lawsuit seeking damages, but it was dismissed.

– Maurice Possley


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Posting Date: 6/30/2013
Last Updated: 11/24/2016
State:South Carolina
County:Lancaster
Most Serious Crime:Murder
Additional Convictions:
Reported Crime Date:1985
Convicted:1986
Exonerated:2000
Sentence:Life
Race/Ethnicity:Black
Sex:Male
Age at the date of reported crime:35
Contributing Factors:False or Misleading Forensic Evidence
Did DNA evidence contribute to the exoneration?:No