Innocent man who spent 23 years in jail for a double murder inside a church freed after DNA evidence identified a new suspect

An innocent man who has spent over two decades in custody for the slaying of a black couple at a south Georgia church was granted bond yesterday after DNA evidence identified a new suspect. 

Dennis Perry, 58, has been serving two life sentences for the 1985 killings of Harold and Thelma Swain, who were killed inside Rising Daughters Baptist Church in Waverly, Georgia, in Camden County.

Brunswick Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett last week tossed Perry's convictions and ordered a new trial after DNA recovered from the crime scene matched an alternate suspect during reinvestigation of the case.

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Dennis Perry, center, celebrates with, Suzanna Baugh, left, and his wife Brenda Perry, right, after being released from the Coffee Correctional Facility, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Nicholls, Ga

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Dennis Perry, center, standing beside wife Brenda Perry gets emotional while thanking the team from the Georgia Innocence Project after they worked to get his release after 20 years behind bars, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Nicholls, Ga.

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Friends and family of Dennis Perry wait for him outside the gate of the Coffee Correctional Facility, yesterday in Nicholls, Ga. Perry was granted bond Thursday after his conviction in the 1985 killings of a couple at a south Georgia church was overturned

Scarlett yesterday granted a request for a signature bond, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

It is now up to the Brunswick district attorney's office to decide whether to retry Perry.

Perry's friends and relatives cheered in the parking lot of the courthouse after the judge's decision was announced.

'God is good,' Perry's wife Brenda said, according to the newspaper.

In overturning Perry's convictions, Scarlett characterized the evidence against Perry as 'weak' compared to the new physical evidence against suspect Erik Sparre, 57, of Brantley County.

Sparre allegedly bragged about killing the couple through the years while referring to them with a racial slur. The victims were Black; Sparre is white. Sparre says he's innocent.

Perry has denied involvement in the deaths since his January 2000 arrest. 

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Dennis Perry is greeted by his wife Brenda Perry in front of the Coffee Correctional Facility, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Nicholls, Ga.

He was convicted in 2003 largely on the testimony of his ex-girlfriend's mother, who said Perry had told her he planned to kill Harold Swain.

The state didn't disclose to the defense that the woman was paid $12,000 in reward money for her testimony.

A GBI task force has been reinvestigating the murders since May due to the DNA linking Sparre to hairs found in the hinge of a pair of glasses found next to the victims' bodies. 

Perry's attorneys decided to do the DNA test after learning that reporting by the Journal-Constitution showed that Sparre's alibi could not be true.

Sparre's mother, Gladys Sparre, contributed the hair that provided the key DNA evidence that led to the overturning of Perry's conviction.

Gladys Sparre, 79, was found dead Sunday at her home in Waynesville.

She had last been seen alive Friday afternoon, according to the GBI, which is helping in the death investigation. 

An autopsy has been done and GBI officials said they now await further forensic testing.