Cold case

The Ohio Supreme Court has unanimously reinstated Robin McClain's rape conviction, reversing an 8th District Court of Appeals ruling that found insufficient evidence he knew his victim was "substantially impaired" during a 2010 assault. The case stemmed from a March 2010 incident in which a woman at a West Park bar lost most of her memory after sipping a drink and woke up injured in a parking lot. The case went cold until 2020, when Cuyahoga County's GOLD cold-case DNA unit used forensic genealogy to identify McClain, later confirmed through DNA from a discarded cigarette butt. A jury convicted McClain of substantial-impairment rape in 2023, and he was sentenced to six years in prison.

The appeals court had vacated the conviction in March 2025, citing unclear legal standards for impairment and ineffective defense counsel. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling the victim's testimony alone was sufficient for a jury to find impairment. Prosecutors called the decision a win for sexual assault survivors. McClain remains incarcerated, with release scheduled for November 2030.

Brookford Police Chief Willie Armstrong has sued several top North Carolina officials, alleging he remains on an unconstitutional law enforcement "blacklist" even though a judge dismissed evidence-tampering charges against him in June 2026. Armstrong was indicted in May 2025 over claims he recorded a man being questioned in connection with the unsolved 1992 killing of 13-year-old Isis Denise "Dee Dee" Dawkins. A judge threw out the case for insufficient evidence after prosecutors played recorded audio in which Armstrong denied intentionally recording the conversation.

The lawsuit claims District Attorney D. Scott Reilly placed Armstrong on a "blacklist notification" under state law that flags officers as unable to testify or perform core law enforcement duties, a designation prosecutors reportedly call a "death letter" for careers. Armstrong alleges Reilly refused to rescind the notice and pushed to have him fired by withdrawing mutual aid from Brookford. He is asking a judge to declare the statute unconstitutional, void the notice, and award damages. Attorney General Jeff Jackson, Senate leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Destin Hall, and Reilly are named as defendants.

Polk County, Iowa, is proposing a five-person cold case unit to tackle more than 100 unsolved cases identified in 2024. The Polk County Sheriff's Office has previously depended on retired officers volunteering to revisit old investigations. Under the new proposal, each of the five specialists would be paid about $31 an hour for up to 500 hours a year, at an estimated cost of roughly $90,000 in the first year and about $95,000 annually after that.

The plan was not included in the county's adopted budget and would require a budget amendment, with no specified funding source, as Iowa's new law capping local property tax revenue growth at 2% tightens county finances. Sheriff Kevin Schneider has said his office lacked resources for a dedicated team and welcomed outside help. Other Iowa agencies, including Cedar Rapids police, already run cold case units; that city's team helped secure a 2024 murder conviction in a 2007 killing. Attention will focus on case prioritization, including the long-unsolved 1982 disappearance of paperboy Johnny Gosch.