CINCINNATI — A man who spent more than a decade on death row for the rape and murder of a child is now free after being granted a new trial.
One month after a Hamilton County Judge threw out his 16-year-old conviction and subsequent death penalty sentence, 54-year-old Lamont Hunter pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.
He walked out of the Hamilton County jail Thursday afternoon a free man after Judge Christian Jenkins sentenced him to time served.
"I'm happy to be able to get back to the business of living my life with my children and starting from here and moving forward," said Hunter after he exited the jail. "Just, all the emotions, that's how I'm feeling."
After walking out, he was immediately embraced by family.
"I just want to say thank you to everybody that had a say so in helping my dad get home to us, because we fought so hard for him to be here," said Mariah Harper, Hunter's daughter.
Following the ruling, the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office issued a statement:
"Today, Hunter walked into a courtroom and admitted that he caused the death of Trustin. There is no doubt what kind of man Lamont Hunter is. However, with the confusion caused by the coroner's change in opinion, this plea was in the best interest of justice."
#BREAKING Lamont Hunter walks out of the Hamilton Co. Justice Center a free man. A judge accepted his plea deal today, 16 years after he was convicted for the rape and murder of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/IalYhYjAOX
— Valerie Lyons (@VLyonsTV) June 15, 2023
At an evidentiary hearing early last month, the defense submitted new evidence before the court. They claimed it was evidence Deputy Coroner Dr. Gretel Stephens had not seen during the initial trial.
Stephens conducted the autopsy on 3-year-old Trustin Blue in 2006. The next year she testified that his death was caused by shaking injuries and ruled it a homicide. Last month, Stephens said she changed her mind, ruling the boy's cause of death as undetermined.
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"A 30-year experienced coroner has changed her mind after seeing all the evidence that she didn't have access to back at the time of the trial," Hunter's defense attorney Alphonse A. Gerhardstein said last month.
Trustin's own mother pleaded for Hunter to be granted his freedom and was the first to embrace him when he left the Hamilton County jail.
The defense read aloud a letter she penned to the judge Wednesday.
"(Trustin) served his purpose on this earth. I donated his organs and his heart," the letter read in part. "Time is unforgettable. It can never go backward only forward. I was 30 years old. Our daughter was 8 months old. She is now 18 years old and about to graduate high school. She deserves her dad. She deserves her dad to be there for her now."
Trustin's grandfather disagreed and said the courts failed his grandson with this decision.
"I want the people of Cincinnati to understand that they let a man out that's a rapist and a murderer back into the Black community," said B.A. Blue.
He said he's always believed Hunter killed Trustin and is a danger to other children.
On Wednesday, Jenkins denied the state's motion to deny bail for Hunter in anticipation of a new trial, ruling defendants charged with criminal offenses are entitled to pretrial release with restrictions.
"I do not believe that reopening or a continuance of the no bond hearing is appropriate," Jenkins said. "The court has already held two evidentiary hearings and given the state an extensive opportunity to make its showing and the state has not done that this time."
Hunter's bond was ultimately set at $500,000.
