The Minnesota Innocence Project is seeking a new trial for a man who was convicted of murdering three Indian women in the 1980s.

Billy Glaze is serving three life sentences for the murders. A jury found him guilty for killing Kathy Bullman, 19, Angeline Whitebird-Sweet, 26, and Angela Green, 21, in Minneapolis in 1986 and 1987.

The Minnesota Innocence Project, however, says Glaze may have been wrongly convicted. DNA tests appear to implicate another man who is a convicted rapist.

Glaze was known a drifter who falsely claimed to have Indian heritage. He even had AIM -- for American Indian Movement -- tattooed on his left hand.

But people who know him said Glaze harbored negative attitudes toward Indian women. At his trial in 1987, a prosecutor said he had a "fury in his gut" that prompted him to murder his three victims.

The real American Indian Movement led street patrols in Minneapolis in response to the deaths. Activists accused law enforcement of not doing enough to solve the crimes.

“There were eyewitness identifications. We had statements by him (Glaze) regarding his hatred of Native women and his desire to mutilate them. He had confessed to doing these three murders,” David Brown, the chief criminal deputy posecutor for the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, told the Associated Press.

Get the Story:
Citing new DNA in decades-old murders, lawyers ask for new trial (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 6/4)
New trial sought for man in ‘80s Minnesota murders (AP 6/3)
DNA tests show man innocent of 1980s Minn. murders, lawyers say (Minnesota Public Radio 6/3)
Lawyers: DNA tests show Minn. serial killer Billy Glaze innocent (KARE 6/3)