By ROSE FRENCH
The AssociatedPress
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee death row inmate Paul House says prosecutors would be “idiots” if they begin a new trial against him after nearly 22 years.
In an interview with The Associated Press, House said he’s lost all faith in the criminal justice system and may pursue a lawsuit against the state for his conviction for the 1985 killing of Carolyn Muncey in UnionCounty.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that House’s jury didn’t hear testimony that could have exonerated him, and a federal judge in December ordered his release unless prosecutors begin a new trial against him within
180 days. The state appealed that order, and the case is pending in the 6th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals.
Pending a May 28 court hearing, House, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and must use a wheelchair,is close to going home for the first time since his incarceration.
The 46-year-old inmate currently resides in the state’s Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility for prisoners in Nashville.
Wearing shackles on his hands and feet and looking frail in a white shirt and pants, House said he’s grown embittered and cynical, and that it would not surprise him if prosecutors did begin a new trial - though they’d be "(expletive) idiots if they do.”
“They’ll (prosecutors) end up doing whatever they want,"hesaid. “They always have.
“It’s taken me all these years to prove that I didn’t do it. And I don’t have another 20 years to invest,” he said."I didn’t do the crime, but I’ve done the time.”
Paul Phillips, who as district attorney general for Union County would have to decide to retry House’s case, did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday.
At a court hearing in February, Phillips said the state planned to again seek the death penalty againstHouseatanewtrial.
House says he was friendly with the victim and her husband, but adamantly denies he killed Muncey, whose badly beaten body was found in a brush pile about 100 yards from her Luttrell home in July 1985.
In its 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that DNA evidence from semen collected from Muncey’s nightgown and underwear, along with other evidence, including new witness statements pointing the finger at her husband as the killer, were strong enough that a jury probably would not have convicted House.
Stephen Kissinger, House’s federalpublicdefender,saidWednesday the state was unlikely to win and that he didn’t foresee prosecutors pursuing a new trial until after an appeals court ruling.
Last year, state Rep. Mike Turner led an effort in which 32 Tennessee lawmakers signed a letter urging Gov. Phil Bredesen to pardon House. The Old Hickory Democrat did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment about House’s case.
Doctors say House is unable to walk or stand and his medical condition causes him to be very weak. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system.
House, who says he contracted the disease about 10 years ago, believes his mother, Joyce House of Crossville, would be able to take careof him. She has said that if her son is released into her care, she would follow any court-ordered conditions.