The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday upheld convictions against a man who remained undetected for years after he raped and strangled a 39-year-old woman.

In 2010, Michael Harvey was convicted of the 1994 murder of Valerie Payton, whose mutilated body was found in a vacant lot in southeast Atlanta. The Fulton County Cold Case Squad solved the crime through DNA evidence after swabs were sent to a private lab in Dallas, which developed a distinct male profile. This was sent to the GBI, which matched it to Harvey.

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Rebecca Ramage-Tuttle, assistant director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia, says the the DOE rule change is “a slippery slope” for civil rights. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC