The man convicted of the 1986 rape and murder of a Chisholm woman has been granted a retrial by the Minnesota Supreme Court.
In August 2022, Michael Carbo Jr., 56, of Chisholm, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the death of Nancy Daugherty, 38, of Chisholm.
In 2020, new DNA technology created a “highly confident” match to Carbo based off evidence collected at the crime scene.
Nancy Daugherty
Carbo’s defense argued he had consensual sex the night Daugherty was killed, but that there was an “alternative perpetrator” known as Daugherty’s ex-boyfriend.
Court documents said the ex-boyfriend, who was in town visiting, had drinks with Daugherty hours before her death and later authorities told he was “hurt” she was seeing someone else.
The judge in the case denied the defense’s motion to include evidence involving that alleged “alternative perpetrator.”
On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled the District Court “abused its discretion by denying the defendant’s motion to present alternative-perpetrator evidence.”
(Click here for the full Minnesota Supreme Court ruling)
Meanwhile, St. Louis County Deputy Prosecutor Jon Holets released the following statement to FOX 21 Wednesday about the higher court’s ruling:
“We are disappointed in the court’s decision to reverse Mr. Carbo’s conviction. We remain committed to prosecuting Mr. Carbo for the murder of Ms. Daugherty based on the facts establishing his guilt as outlined in the complaint. We cannot comment further on a pending case. We ask that the requests for privacy of Ms. Daugherty’s family be respected.”
