COLUMBIA — A judge has overturned the guilty plea of a Columbia man in the death of his girlfriend because of a typo in the victim’s autopsy report that the judge called a “glaring error.”

The report mentioned the victim had a gall bladder condition, even though the organ had been removed nine years earlier.

BeJay Harley, now serving 15 years in prison, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2005, accepting a plea deal after his murder conviction had been overturned by a different judge.

But Harley decided to contest the plea because of the error in the autopsy report.

Medical examiner Dr. Clay Nichols testified the mistake was a typo and reiterated his findings that 45-year-old Grace Courtney died from head injuries after being kicked in the head and beaten. But Circuit Judge William Keesley said the mistake was important enough to being Harley’s plea into question.

“It was a glaring error in a document that virtually all people would presume to be one where accuracy is of the most extreme importance,” Keesley wrote. “It raised red flags about the accuracy of the methodology of the autopsy and the conclusions in the report.”

Keesley ruled Harley’s original lawyers didn’t give him adequate representation because they did not discover the mistake before allowing him to plead guilty.

Prosecutors could not be reached to determine if they plan to try Harley again.

Harley’s lawyer for his appeal said a second pathologist reviewed the autopsy results and thinks Courtney died of a natural condition that caused random bleeding in her brain.

“While DNA has been used successfully to exonerate a lot of people, this case is an example where much older science was successfully used,” Columbia attorney Tara Shurling said.

You must be logged in to comment.