DNA Testing Clears Man Who Served 28 Years; Gets Bus Ticket Home, Winter Clothes & $75...

[Purveyor]

(12-15) 08:44 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

A judge in Washington has ordered a man who spent 28 years in prison for a rape and murder be released after DNA testing showed he's innocent.

Prosecutors say 58-year-old Donald Eugene Gates is expected to be released Tuesday from a prison in Arizona. He'll be given a bus ticket to Ohio, where he's from, winter clothes and $75.

Judge Fred Ugast, who presided over Gates' trial in the 1980s, says he's grateful technology made it possible to "right a wrong."

Gates was convicted of the 1981 rape and murder of 21-year-old Catherine Schilling in Washington's Rock Creek Park.

Recent testing showed Gates is not a match for DNA found on Schilling's body and the work of an FBI forensic analyst involved in the investigation has been called into question.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/12/15/national/a084432S61.DTL#ixzz0ZmR4Newx

[SoCalDem]

1. $0.21 a month..gee could they spare it?

I hope he sues..

[jasi2006]

4. They could have at least given him $50,000 for living expenses for

two years since he probably will not be able to get a job. the justice system stinks in a lot of ways...especially for black men.

[lame54]

2. 75 of my tax-dollars? - what an outrage

:sarcasm:

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. That poor, poor man.

[Ignis]

5. Any death penalty proponents care to chime in on this one?

:shrug:

[MineralMan]

6. One more way Arizona sucks. One of so many.

And Maricopa County sucks the worst.

[jaysunb]

10. You're right (Arizona sucks) but

this happened in Washington state. He was housed in a Fed pen in Arizona.

[MineralMan]

11. Ah. I missed that.

[bpj62]

12. Washington DC

The District of Columbia was forced to close its prison facility which was located in Fairfax Virginia in 1999. Anyone convicted of a felony crime in DC is shipped to whatever prison facilities DC has a contract with. This has led to several lawsuits by inmates who claim that thier civil rights are being violated because their relatives may have a hard time visiting the inmates if they are shipped across the country. Rock Creek Park is the same park that Chaundra Levy was murdered in.

[NashVegas]

7. Makes You Wonder

How many instances there are of evidence constructed after police were sure they got the "right" perp.

[Peace4us]

8. Lawsuit Time

I hope the poor man finds a good attorney who will sue on his behalf.

[Fire1]

9. Me too! n/t

[DainBramaged]

13. What he got three hots and a cot for all those years wasn't that enough?

:sarcasm: :cry: