A former Ohio police captain who spent nearly 15 years in prison before being exonerated in his ex-wife’s killing could be headed back behind bars after an appeals court ruled that a judge was wrong to free him.
The ruling Wednesday comes a year after former Akron police officer Douglas Prade was freed by a Summit County judge when new testing of a bite mark cast doubt on his conviction.
The judge ordered Prade’s release in January 2013, saying there was convincing evidence of his innocence after tests of the bite mark on Dr. Margo Prade’s lab coat showed DNA that did not match that of her former husband.
But Ohio’s Ninth District Court of Appeals said that the DNA testing raised more questions than answers, and that Prade’s conviction was based on overwhelming circumstantial evidence.
‘‘Without a doubt, Prade was excluded as a contributor of the DNA that was found in the bite mark section of Margo’s lab coat,’’ the ruling said. ‘‘The DNA testing, however, produced exceedingly odd results.’’
‘‘While it is indisputable that there was only one killer, at least two partial male profiles were uncovered within the bite mark,’’ the ruling said.
Summit County prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said she will seek a warrant to have Prade returned to prison. The prosecutor’s office did not know where he is currently living.
‘‘In order to be exonerated, Prade and his attorneys needed to show clear and convincing evidence of his innocence — not simply create doubt,’’ Walsh said. ‘‘They failed.’’
A message seeking comment was left with Prade’s lawyer. Prade has maintained his innocence.
Prade was convicted in 1998 of shooting his 41-year-old ex-wife, a family practitioner, inside her van on the parking lot of her Akron office. There were no witnesses and no fingerprints, and no gun was found after the November 1997 shooting.
A test of the lab coat fabric showed it contained at least two and as many as five DNA profiles, none of which matched the former police captain’s.