GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A man who was wrongfully convicted in the murder of a UNC Charlotte student has now filed a federal lawsuit.
Mark Carver is suing the city of Mount Holly along with several former investigators
He spent more than eight years in prison before a judge vacated his conviction in 2019.
Carver was sentenced to life in prison in the 2008 murder of Ira Yarmolenko.
Mount Holly police zeroed in on Carver after learning he had been fishing near where her body was found.
The suit claims that SBI lab analysts manipulated DNA evidence found on her car to match Carver’s.
He maintained his innocence.
“They said they had evidence I done it,” Carver had said. “I didn’t do it, I ain’t go around the car, nowhere near the car, nothing.”
The lawsuit claims her car wasn’t swabbed for DNA until two months after the murder.
The suit also accuses police of concealing evidence that could have exonerated Carver.
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