To have your life ruined over a mere accusation, with no evidence. . . this is something out of our dark past or in a third world dictatorship.

This shouldn't happen here. Ever.

The victim of this crime said he looked similar. She did not accuse this man; the prosecutors took this weak evidence to trial instead of insisting that a match for the fingerprints at the scene be found. "Mere accusation" heavily implies that that victim went out of her way to blame an innocent man when the fault lies with lazy investigation and prosecution.

an accusation. It doesn't mean the girl had any ill-will towards him. But her statement was their sole piece of evidence. Well that and he was a man (and I'll hazard a guess that he was a black man at that).

And I'd say it was a bad defense since the prosecution achieved their goal.

Not that it will make things right but he is owed significant financial restitution.

Or else the states that hold our prisoners we be de-incentivised to test them in fear of going broke... Kind of a bad situation right note

Otherwise " little boots " would have fried him years ago and giggled while doing it .

We know they had the ability at least 11 years ago.

Most people can't afford the tests, they are very expensive and require several agencies to conduct the test. Three or more independent testing facilities are generally used to overturn a conviction.

Welcome to DU by the way...

I was wondering if the costs to test the DNA were so much greater than keeping a human in jail for that many years so I looked it up. While my search isn't completely definitive, I'm going to guess its probably a LOT cheaper to simply get the tests done than imprison an innocent person for decades. Its weird to me that the prosecution fought the requests for DNA testing for so long. Just really tragic.


" Q: What are the costs of testing DNA?

Costs vary from lab to lab and depend upon the size and condition of the sample to be tested. The most simple--though still comprehensive and comparative--tests for a fairly well-sized, well-preserved sample will not cost less than $1,500."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/etc/faqs.html

requested by defendants.

There may have been legal delays, or problems with getting a defense team to either raise funds to pay for independent testing or to seek a court order within Texas to have the state conduct it.

They should pay so much that they are afraid to not deny others who are going through the same thing.

I hope they sue for so much that he is compensated richly and maybe be forced to set up a fund for DNA tests
so others may be freed.

Evidently, previous tests were done, (at the request of defense), and they were "inconclusive".

The prosecutor, Ken Anderson, a noted expert on Texas criminal law, is now a state district judge... For six years, the Williamson County district attorney, John Bradley, fought the request for DNA testing, based on advice from Judge Anderson, his predecessor and friend. In 2010, however, a Texas court ordered the DNA testing, and the results showed that Mrs. Morton’s blood on the bandanna was mixed with the DNA of another man: Mark A. Norwood, a felon with a long criminal history who lived about 12 miles from the Mortons at the time of the murder. By then, Mr. Morton had spent nearly 25 years in prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/us/texas-man-seeks-inquiry-after-exoneration-in-murder.html

Texas is a different land.

You, sir, have done it.

I'm so glad he's free but how do you compensate for the last 14 years of life behind bars? No amount of money-- nothing-- can ever bring that time back. So sad.

I've heard several of these stories. Hasn't DNA testing been around since the early 90s?

Are states reluctant to do this because they would rather keep innocent people in jail than risk being sued?