DNA test clears Dallas man jailed 27 years ago

would be even more interesting to see how many people who were on death row and were excuted were actually guilty, and how many of them could have been proved innocent with DNA testing.

Sucks to be locked up for that long and then people realize you were telling the truth.

Be happy I was not sentanced to death row 27 years earlier instead.

i can't even begin to imagine how he feels and has felt..

The main reason I am against the death penalty.

....fucked up........

That seems to happen a lot in Texas. I've seen reports like this several time from that state, which is pretty damn scary being they execute the most prisoners out of any state.

It's an absolute shame for the guy, as those are years he'll just never get back.

Be thankful for all the blessing that had been given to me and be sorry to my self!

There is a documentary movie called After Innocence that follows the stories of several guys who were wrongly convicted of a crime then later released on DNA evidence. In all but one of the cases they had no evidence other than the testimony of the victim. It turn out in the case of violent crimes the victims identify the wrong person over 80% of the time. All of these guys were sentenced before DNA was used regularly.

In many states they don't pay you any kind of restitution and they don't voluntarily expunge your record. They give you $20 for a cab and send you on your way. If you want the crime taken off your record you have hire a lawyer to do it and it costs around 6K to get done otherwise you are still a convicted felon. In one case (in Florida) the DNA proved they had the wrong guy yet the state dragged it out for two more years. The DA even said they know they have the wrong guy, but that the defense wrongly filed a paper so he has to fight it. It was pretty despicable how they were still forcing a guy who they knew was innocent to stay behind bars because of paperwork. The people that worked to help these guys are part of a group that is run by Berry Sheck, the DNA guy from the OJ defense team, and the have freed a few hundred people that were wrongly convicted then proven innocent from DNA.

It is a very interesting movie that everyone should see. If you think you could never go to jail or be wrongly accused, you are wrong. A couple of the guys in the movie just happened to be the same height and wearing the same color shirt as the suspect. They were walking down the street doing nothing wrong, going about their business, arrested, wrongly identified by the victim and spent over 10 years in jail for something they didn't do. Pretty sad. It does make me happy though that we have DNA now and it can really save your ass or help ensure that they have the right person.

I'd find the prosecuters, the jury and the judge and kill them all.

That's too fucked up..major lawsuit in the works

These guys should sue the state into oblivion imo. If the hot coffee victim got paid, they should pretty much get an entire city or something.

shit .. they fucking fucked his whole goddamn life. He is 55 now .. I feel for him.

Its hard as hell just to imagine that .. I hope he sues the morons for some gazillion bucks.

Let me quote the DA here....."Oops, my bad. Sorry."

That really sucks and yes i am against death penalty too

27 years,most of his life,shit

Fucking amazing. You would be surprised if you knew how much the attorneys lie, and how often they will charge someone with something and see if they will just take a plee.

It is often not that easy. In that movie I watched there is a guy who sued just to get the conviction taken off his record. It took almost 5 years and about 20K just to get that done. There are several states that will pay you if you are wrongly jailed, but many don't and in the cases where they don't the lawyers often advise them not to sue because it will be very costly and many cities/states have laws in place that help protect them from such lawsuits.

He could still win, but he would have to find an attorney who would be willing to work for a part of the winnings/settlement and would be willing to work for potentially years and years to get to the point of just going to trial.

Wonder how much that cost U.S. taxpayers to keep him jail for 27 years I heard it was an average of $35K/year recently and sometimes as high as $65K?year

I read recently that the national average is around 30K a year , but it can be higher depending on the state they are in and if the prisoner has any special needs. Also higher security prisons where they keep the real bad criminals are a lot more expensive.

Oddly enough even at 30K a year it is cheaper to keep people in jail for life then to put them to death because of the extreme costs in legal fees associated with putting someone to death.

I think I might dedicate the rest of my life to revenge too. What else is left?

That is so fucked up!

As usual, justice is served.

i would probably make sure someone paid for the mistake and by that i mean i make sure they appologize and work to make sure it does not happen again.
oh and maybe also put some lead in someone's head then claim temporary insanty.