K. Tisdale in the 1986 Democratic primary for District Attorney, largely due to a backlash by the black community over the latter's handling of Hunt's trial. Hunt's defense attorney gained a change in venue for his client's trial, as the case had been widely publicized in the Winston-Salem and Forsyth County areas. "Faced with a retrial in rural Catawba County, prosecutors offered a plea bargain to Hunt that would have set him free. Rather that admit guilt, Hunt turned down the deal." The same eyewitnesses testified, as did two jailhouse informants. The trial took four weeks. The defense tried to show that the eyewitnesses were unreliable. Hunt was tried in 1990 by an all-white jury from the rural county; it convicted him of Syke's rape and murder. He was sentenced to life and returned to prison. By the late 1980s, new forms of forensic testing had become available, including DNA analysis. Hunt sought to have his DNA tested and compared to material collected in the Sykes crime. In 1994, Hunt's DNA was tested, as was that from semen and other case evidence. Hunt did not have a match to the DNA in the semen collected from Sykes' body, showing that he could not have committed the rape. In addition, the prosecution tested the DNA of Mitchell, Gray (each of whom had been implicated to some extent), and Sykes' husband. The DNA in the semen matched none of them. But the prosecution still contended that Hunt was involved in the murder by a now unknown assailant. Neither Forsyth County judge Melzer Morgan nor the appellate court granted Hunt a new trial based on this evidence. Hunt's supporters believed strongly that because the assault was at the heart of the case, the related murder charges were in question. But the prosecution suggested that Hunt could have been involved in the murder, even if not the rape, and that a third man might have been involved with him and another. "The state changed its theory of the crime to fit the new DNA evidence rather than reinvestigate the case." Hunt's attorney filed a series of appeals. In December 2003, Hunt's defense prevailed in getting the DNA collected from the rape-murder to be run for the first time against the state database; a match was found with the DNA of Willard E. Brown, also a resident of Winston-Salem. He had been a suspect in