MONTEREY — A man whose conviction was overturned through DNA evidence after 33 years will not face retrial for a 1985 Monterey murder, and the court has ordered his release from prison, Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced on Thursday.

Jack Edward Sagin, 73, of Monterey, was charged in 1986 with committing one count of murder during the commission of a residential burglary that took place July 14, 1985, in Monterey. He was also charged with committing six other counts of burglary or attempted burglary occurring between July 19 and Aug. 3, 1985. Sagin was also charged with five prior prison terms.

A jury trial in July 1986 returned a verdict finding Sagin, who was 40 at the time, guilty of first-degree murder committed while engaged in a residential burglary of Paula Durocher, 40, who was found stabbed to death inside her Monterey home. Police on scene found no sign of forced entry, no items of value missing and a bloodstained towel on the victim’s legs. Defensive wounds on the victim and disarray around her body indicated Durocher struggled with her attacker. No DNA evidence was presented at trial since that technology did not exist then. In October 1986, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder. He also received a 12-year concurrent sentence on all burglary charges and prior prison term enhancements.

Sagin’s direct appeal was denied, as were his multiple attempts to obtain post-conviction relief in state and federal court.

In 2001, the Northern California Innocence Project contacted the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office about Sagin’s case. In April 2003, his lawyers reviewed the DA’s court file. In July 2003 they were appointed by the trial court for the purpose of filing a motion for post-conviction DNA testing.

In January 2008, Sagin filed a motion for post-conviction DNA testing seeking testing of items retained by the Monterey Police Department including vaginal swabs taken from the victim, the bathrobe the victim wore at the time of death, the towels draped on her lower body, hairs found on a couch cushion and her back, the couch cushion cover, a marijuana cigarette, a broken necklace, and scrapings from under the victim’s fingernails. The motion was granted in February 2009.

The court-ordered DNA testing located DNA on the bathrobe, the towels, the vaginal swabs, the marijuana cigarette, the hair from the couch cushion, and the scrapings from underneath the victim’s fingernails. The male DNA profiles from these items belonged to five unknown males, but none of the DNA matched Sagin.

The DA’s Office and the Monterey Police Department conducted further investigation into the case after receiving the court-ordered DNA testing results, and obtained DNA samples from five males known to the victim at the time of the murder including her then-boyfriend, ex-boyfriends, a family member and one coworker. Two DNA samples were obtained from two other males involved in the case. Investigators interviewed the DNA donors and other potential witnesses.

The DA’s Office ordered new DNA testing to be performed on the crime scene evidence to compare it to the recently-obtained samples and found the male DNA on most of the crime scene evidence was from the five men who knew the victim. The only unknown male DNA profile came from the fingernail scrapings from the victim. In 2011, the unknown male DNA profile was uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System and found no known offender match.

CODIS is the program of support for the FBI’s criminal justice DNA databases as well as the software used to run them.

Sagin petitioned the trial court in 2012 for a writ of habeas corpus because his DNA was not present at the crime scene, but the court summarily denied the petition. At the time the petition was denied, the standard for obtaining habeas relief on newly discovered evidence required the petitioner to prove the new evidence pointed unerringly to his or her innocence and undermined the prosecution’s entire case. That standard required a petitioner to establish innocence.

In 2016, the state Court of Appeal ordered the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing in the case. Prior to that hearing, the Legislature amended the statute governing relief for newly discovered evidence. A petitioner now seeking relief under the amended statute need only prove the new evidence would more likely than not change the outcome at trial. A changed outcome at trial means a different result from a guilty verdict. It does not require an acquittal but also encompasses a hung jury. Sagin’s burden was now to show it more likely than not the new DNA evidence would have led at least one juror to maintain a reasonable doubt of guilt.

The trial court held the hearing in April 2017. In May 2017 the trial court denied Sagin relief.

In June 2017, Sagin filed a new petition for a writ of habeas corpus at the Court of Appeal. In a published decision issued Aug. 30, 2019, the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision, reversing Sagin’s conviction for murder. The decision had no effect on the other burglary counts which Sagin admitted committing.

The Court of Appeal decision makes several important observations about the case. First, the DNA evidence under the victim’s fingernails does not prove Sagin was innocent. The evidence standing alone does not prove someone other than Sagin committed the crime. Second, the DNA evidence does not prove Sagin was not present at the crime scene. It only proves the Sagin’s DNA was not on the items tested. Third, under the former standard for obtaining habeas relief, requiring the evidence point unerringly toward innocence, Sagin would not be entitled to relief.

Several factors weighed in Pacioni’s decision not to seek a retrial. First, the murder took place over 34 years ago. Memories of witnesses typically fade after events, especially from events occurring decades ago. Second, there were four main prosecution witnesses linking Sagin to the murder and burglary. Two of those witnesses are now deceased. Third, much of the inculpatory evidence was testimony from police informants with felony convictions (one deceased, the other now serving a prison term in Arizona). Finally, as the Court of Appeal held, the unknown male DNA underneath the victim’s fingernails raises a reasonable doubt concerning the identity of the perpetrator.

Within 24 hours of the Court of Appeal’s decision, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office continues working with the Northern California Innocence Project. After discussion with the victim’s family, the Pacioni notified Sagin’s lawyers a retrial would not occur. Since that notification, Pacioni and the Northern California Innocence Project worked together to expedite Sagin’s release from prison, resulting in his release weeks earlier than otherwise contemplated by the Court of Appeal’s procedural framework.

Sagin will reportedly reside with his sister in Arizona.