BUFFALO, N.Y. — A woman convicted nearly 26 years ago of homicide and robbery in Amherst has been exonerated.
Renay Lynch was convicted in 1995 of the murder of her landlord. Her case was taken on by the Innocence Project, which helps people who have been wrongly convicted.
The Innocence Project says Lynch, was exonerated after fingerprint evidence from the crime scene, which they say was withheld by law enforcement, was re-analyzed. They say the new information showed a different tenant of the victim may be the likely suspect.
“Today is bittersweet. Ms. Lynch lost the last 26 years of her life to a wrongful conviction because of systemic flaws that continue to exist in the criminal legal system,” said Susan Friedman, Ms. Lynch’s Innocence Project attorney on the organization's website. “Today, she finally has some semblance of justice, but she should have never been convicted in the first place. I’d like to thank the Erie County District Attorney’s Office for their collaboration and cooperation in this case. Today’s outcome demonstrates why Conviction Integrity Units are critical.”
The landlord, Louise Cicelsky, 82, was found stabbed to death in her apartment in Amherst.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, however, says this is not an exoneration.
"I take issue with the word exonerated," Flynn said. "I am not exonerating Miss Lynch, I am not up here saying that she did not do this that that that is not what happened here, I am saying that I do not have enough evidence to go forward 30 years later."
Flynn said, more than anything, that the judge vacated the conviction due to a Brady violation.
In this instance, the Amherst Police Department did not share all of the fingerprints they had on file for this case with the District Attorney's office. Subsequently, the DA's office wasn't able to provide Lynch's defense attorney with all the fingerprint evidence.
"The fact that 12 prints were not turned over, I don't like that," Flynn said. "That's a problem."
Flynn, however, did not accuse the Amherst Police Department of intentionally withholding the evidence from the DA's office before this trial started.
"I have no proof that it was purposeful conduct, where they purposely withheld the fingerprints," Flynn said. "It could have been sloppy conduct, it could have been mistaken conduct. It could have been forgetful conduct. It could have been a whole other range of things."
The Innocence Project says police initially looked into people who had property or money disputes with Cicelsky. It was more than a year later that police spoke to Lynch, thinking an acquaintance of hers was a potential suspect. According to the Innocence Project, they say Lynch was given a wire to try to get evidence against another suspect but turned to Lynch as their lead suspect. "To get what they wanted, police used coercive interrogation techniques known to elicit false confessions – showing her crime scene photos, asking leading questions, and threatening her with perjury charges and additional time in prison. Ultimately these techniques worked, and Ms. Lynch told investigators what they wanted to hear: that she and Mr. Walker had gone to Ms. Cicelsky’s apartment to rob her, but while there, Mr. Walker beat and fatally stabbed her," they said on their website.
Based on the new information, Lynch's attorneys filed a motion in 2018 requesting the court to order additional DNA testing of the crime scene evidence, according to the Erie County District Attorney's Office. Initially, the DA's office opposed the motion because they say Lynch's confession said she was nowhere near the victim's home when the homicide occurred, so it would have been unlikely her DNA would be found in the evidence.
State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller did grant the motion and testing found no DNA evidence linking Lynch or the other suspect to the crime scene.
The DA's office said in 2020, they collaborated with Lynch's attorneys in re-investigating the case. In November 2023, a motion was filed by her attorneys to vacate her conviction. Judge Boller issued a decision and ordered Lynch's conviction vacated.
The DA's office said without sufficient evidence for a second trial, a motion was filed to dismiss the indictment in the interest of justice, which was signed by the Judge on Thursday.
“It has been nearly 26 years since her conviction and at this time we are unable to secure the witnesses and sufficient evidence to bring the matter before a jury again due to the passage of time. Therefore, my office requested the Court dismiss the indictment in the interest of justice. Ms. Lynch served a significant period of incarceration and I believe that this matter now deserves closure,” said Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn in a statement.
Lynch was released from prison in 2022.
“I have waited 26 years for this day to come,” said Lynch. “That’s days without seeing my children grow up, days without holding my grandchildren, days that I will never get back. I’m grateful to finally have this weight lifted.”