On June 1, 1992, 20-year-old K.V. was awakened at 6 a.m. in her apartment at the Breckinridge Square Apartments, a multi-unit building in Louisville, Kentucky by a nude man wearing pantyhose over his head. He said he had been watching her and just wanted sex.
When the man attempted to remove K.V.’s shirt, she fought back. They struggled and K.V. kicked over a glass table. K.V. ripped the pantyhose off the man’s head and scratched his face before he fled out the back door.
Afterward, K.V. discovered that a television, a compact disc player and her telephone had been stolen.
K.V. ran to a neighbor’s apartment, and the police were called. She described her attacker as a Black man, 5 feet 6 inches tall, 30 to 40 years old with a muscular build and greasy hair. She said the attacker was articulate and did not use slang.
When the neighbors heard K.V.’s description, they said it sounded like she was describing 44-year-old William Gregory, who lived in an upstairs apartment in the same building. Later that day, police showed K.V. a photographic lineup that included Gregory’s photograph. She did not make an identification. Sometime later that same day, K.V. saw Gregory at the apartment complex and believed he was her attacker. Police were called.
Officers inspected Gregory’s apartment and did not find anything that had been taken from K.V.’s apartment. They looked at him for scratches, but found nothing. Even so, that night, police arrested Gregory at the department store where he worked as a salesman. He was released on bond on June 15, 1992 and moved in with a friend, Donna Levitch.
On July 19, six weeks later, at about 5:30 a.m., in the same apartment building in which K.V. lived, 71-year-old M.S. was awakened in her apartment by a Black man who was naked and holding a knife. The man climbed on top of M.S., pulled up her gown and placed his penis near her vagina. The man then rolled off and fled out the back door. M.S. realized her hand was bleeding from a cut. She discovered that a video cassette recorder and a telephone answering machine were missing.
Police were called and took M.S. to the hospital. She said the attacker was Black, in his late 20’s or early 30’s with a small build. She said he was clean shaven, had short hair and a greasy substance on his shoulders and neck.
Five days later, on July 24, 1992, the police asked Gregory to participate in a live lineup. Once he arrived at the police station, officers told him that he could consent to a one-on-one showup rather than wait for the fillers to be located for a conventional lineup. Gregory signed a waiver and when M.S. viewed him, she identified him as her attacker.
Gregory was then arrested a second time. He was charged with one count of rape, one count of attempted rape, one count of assault, and two counts of burglary.
In August 1993, Gregory went to trial in Jefferson County Circuit Court. K.V. and M.S. testified and identified him as their attacker.
State forensic analyst Dawn Katz testified that she had compared six hairs found inside the pantyhose that was recovered in K.V.’s apartment. Katz testified that Gregory’s hair shared all 16 characteristics she examined. She said the hairs lacked a medulla, a characteristic she had not seen before in a Black person’s hair. She also said hairs contained “ovoid bodies,” a characteristic so rare she had only seen it before in cattle hair.
Two police officers, Joe Carroll and Steve Clark, testified that after Gregory was arrested the second time, they listened as he made a phone call. They testified that during the call, Gregory recited the items that had been taken from K.V.’s apartment, which they said suggested that he had taken them.
Gregory testified and denied committing the crimes. He said that he was at home at the time K.V. was attacked and that he was in Levitch’s apartment when M.S. was attacked. Levitch also testified and said he was in her apartment at the time of M.S.’s attack. Gregory said that the police officers had told him what was taken from K.V.’s apartment.
The defense also presented evidence that at 6:30 a.m. on August 14, 1992, while Gregory was in jail, a rape and burglary occurred in the Woodbridge Apartments, about four miles from the Breckinridge Square Apartments. A man entered through a sliding screen door armed with a knife. He stole a VCR and a telephone. The man was described as Black, 30 to 35 years old, 5 feet 7 to 5 feet 8 inches tall with a mustache. A wanted poster for that crime had been placed in the police file of the attack on M.S.
The defense noted that Gregory did not fit the descriptions given by the two victims. He was 44 years old, was 5 feet, 11 inches tall, had a potbelly and had a full beard at the time of the crimes.
On August 16, 1993, the jury convicted Gregory of rape, attempted rape and two counts of burglary. He was acquitted of the assault charge. In October 1993, he was sentenced to 70 years in prison.
Gregory contacted the Innocence Project after his appeal was unsuccessful. In March 1998, the Innocence Project was able to arrange for DNA testing of the hair evidence. The hairs were tested using mitochondrial DNA testing, a relatively new form of DNA testing. Initially, one hair was tested and excluded Gregory as the source.
The prosecution insisted that the rest of the hairs be tested. The state had the hairs tested at their own expense. These results of further testing also excluded Gregory.
As part of a re-investigation of the case, the defense learned that before M.S. identified Gregory in the one-on-one showup, the officers had shown her a photographic lineup that included Gregory’s photograph, and she had failed to make an identification. That information had not been disclosed prior to Gregory’s trial. The defense also learned that Katz had excluded Gregory as the source of two hairs in the pantyhose, but failed to disclose that to the defense prior to the trial.
On July 5, 2000, Gregory’s convictions were vacated, the charges were dismissed, and he was released from prison. He was the first person to be exonerated by mitochondrial testing alone and the first inmate to be exonerated based on DNA testing in Kentucky. He had served seven years in prison.
Gregory later filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit accusing detectives of withholding evidence of two other rapes in the area about the same time. The lawsuit against the city of Louisville and the state of Kentucky was later settled for a total of $4.6 million, with the city paying $3.9 million and the state $700,000.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 02-10-2026
