Arizona ex-con convicted of Colorado sex assault

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - A man freed after serving nearly 40 years in an Arizona prison for a double murder he says he didn't commit has been convicted of sexually assaulting two children in Colorado.

The Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office says 79-year-old William Macumber, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was found guilty Friday of two counts of sexual assault on a child. He is scheduled to be sentenced in February and faces a minimum of four years in prison, reports the Arizona Republic.

Macumber was arrested in suburban Denver in October 2013 and charged with sexual assault that allegedly started in April 2013, five months after he was released from prison.

Macumber served 37 years in prison for the 1962 killings of 20-year-olds Joyce Sterrenberg and Timothy McKillop. He was arrested for the murders in 1974 after his wife, Carol Kempfert, who was working at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, told authorities that her husband had suddenly confessed to the killings, according to the paper. Deputies reportedly re-examined evidence and found Macumber's prints. His attorneys later suggested Kempfert planted them there. She denies those allegations.

Macumber was convicted of the murders in 1975 and sentenced to life in prison. His conviction was tossed out on appeal but he was re-tried and convicted yet again in 1976.

In 2009, after the Arizona Justice Project raised doubts about the case, the state's Board of Executive Clemency voted unanimously to release him, writing, "There is substantial doubt that Mr. Macumber is guilty of the crime for which he was convicted," reported CBS affiliate KPHO.

Jan Brewer, Arizona's governor at the time, reportedly rejected the recommendation without explanation.

It wasn't until November 2012 that Macumber was released after attorneys working on behalf of the Justice Project sought a new trial. Prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to retry the case, so Macumber pleaded no contest to second-degree murder under a plea agreement and was sentenced to time served.

According to the Arizona Republic, Macumber was living his son, Ronald, following his release.

Ronald Macumber told the Arizona Republic in June that he kicked his father out of his house in August 2013 after accusations arose that his father may have been sexually abusing young relatives.

"It makes me angry to no end, for the 12 years I spent to get him out of jail, to do what he did," Ronald Macumber told the paper. "When he's found guilty, he can rot in prison. He's lost everything as far as I'm concerned.

"I believe he's still innocent of the murders," Ronald Macumber went on to say, "But I know for a fact he's not the man I thought he was."

The Arizona Justice Project, who helped secure Macumber's release in the double murder case, released a statement Monday saying the organization is "deeply saddened" by the news of Macumber's sexual assault conviction.

"We did not represent Bill in that matter, so we are not in a position to comment on the case, except to say that the case for which he was just convicted is in no way related to the case on which we represented Bill. His conviction in Colorado does nothing to change the fact the [sic] Bill served 37 years in prison for 2 murders he did not commit."