In January of this year, Dennis Perry marked his 20th year in prison for the murder of Harold and Thelma Swain, who were killed in the entryway of the Rising Daughter Baptist Church in 1985.

That meant that for the first time, Dennis became eligible for parole,

under a Georgia law requiring inmates serving life sentences

who were convicted before 2006 to serve 20 years in prison before parole could be considered.

Of course, in practice, almost no one in Georgia convicted of murder

before 2006 is paroled their first time before the board. Invariably, they receive a set-off

and return a few years later, when almost as invariably, they are set off once again.

They can usually expect to serve at least 30 years before parole is a serious possibility.

So while Dennis Perry was theoretically up for parole, in practice it seemed that the best he might be able to hope for would be a set-off of only a couple of years.

Worst case, they might set him off for half a decade or longer, as a parole board recently did to Joey Watkins.

On June 3rd, though,

the Georgia Board of Pardon and Parolees did something unexpected. They tentatively granted Dennis Perry parole, effective September 1st, if none of the members of the Parole Board changed their mind

between now and then. Dennis Perry was granted parole, not a pardon.

This decision does nothing to alter his conviction, but it does mean that, barring a change in

plans, Dennis Perry will be paroled less than two months from now. That day cannot come soon enough.

Coffee County Correctional, where Dennis is incarcerated, has 177 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Hi and welcome to Undisclosed.

This is a special bonus update episode on the Dennis Perry case. My name is Robi at Jadh. I'm an attorney and author of Adnan's story, and I'm here with my colleagues, Susan Simpson and Colin Miller.

Hi, this is Susan Simpson. I'm an attorney in Washington, D.C., and I blog at the View from L.L.2. Hi, this is Colin Miller. I'm an associate dean and professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, and I blog at evidence prof blog.

Back in April of this year, prior to the decision of the Pearl Board to grant Dennis Parole,

Dennis' attorneys filed an extraordinary motion for a new trial on his behalf in Glen County, where he'd been convicted back in 2003.

The motion was based on new DNA evidence that had linked a man named

...