Sharon Snyder, a Kansas City court clerk, was fired after she supplied Robert Nelson with a public document that explained how to obtain DNA tests that ultimately freed him of a wrong conviction, The Huffington Post reported.
Despite being punished for her action, Snyder, who worked as a clerk for 34 years, told Chris Hayes on Wednesday that she has no regrets.
"Oh yes, I would do it again," Snyder said. "I am so happy that he got exonerated on this charge, and felt that would happen or he wouldn't have filed that motion to start out with."
You can watch the interview here.
Nelson, 49, was convicted of a rape in 1984 and later sentenced to 50 years in prison for forcible rape, five years for forcible sodomy, and 15 years for first-degree robbery. The judge ordered his sentences to begin after he served time for previous robbery charges, which ended in 2006.
In August 2009, he filed a motion for DNA testing that wasn't available to him during his trial 25 years ago. Jackson County Circuit Judge David Byrn denied Nelson's request then and again in October 2011 when Nelson attempted to file a second motion.
After his second request was denied, Snyder gave Nelson's sister, Sea Dunnell, the copy of a motion filed in a separate case where the judge allowed for a DNA request. Nelson was able to use the copy as a guide to receive DNA testing.
In August of 2012, Byrn appointed Laura O'Sullivan, legal director of the Midwest Innocence Project, to represent Nelson after sustaining the motion.
After the Kansas City Police Department conducted lab tests, they learned that Nelson's DNA was not a match to the 1983 rape and freed him on June 12. Snyder was originally suspended for five days without pay but was subsequently fired on June 27.
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