DNA test clears American musician after 28 years in jail for rape

[MgtPA]

<snip>
"In an extraordinary scene, barely noticed in America this week amid coverage of the enormous oil spill and the New York bomb plot, Mr Towler, a 52-year-old musician, walked free from a Cleveland court after spending more than half his life in prison for a crime of which he always maintained his innocence and which DNA analysis proved he did not commit."

[IntravenousDemilo]

1. He should sue the bastards responsible. Take 'em for everything they own. n/m

[RainDog]

2. how sad.

people who are unjustly imprisoned... are they just supposed to say oops and go on? I hope there is MAJOR compensation for people who have been so wronged. how is someone supposed to pick up a life on the outside after something like this?

[midnight]

3. K&R

[jody]

4. Another example of why capital punishment is immoral. n/t

[FreakinDJ]

5. Let me guess - he was positively identified at the time

Yep - I was right

His case is not unique, but the way it ended was uniquely moving. It may serve to galvanise a national movement of lawyers and activists who have used DNA evidence to free more than 250 inmates since 1992, almost all of them black men, but who have so far lacked the resources to tackle thousands of other cases in which experts’ fear of “junk science” and racial bias have produced unsafe convictions.

Despite pleading not guilty and offering a solid alibi, Mr Towler was sentenced to life without parole on the basis of a Cleveland police officer’s suspicion during a routine traffic stop that he resembled the man sought in a rape that had occurred two weeks earlier. He was later picked out by the victim from an identity parade.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7120167.ece

Well at least there is a little bit of justice

Under state law, Mr Towler is entitled to $40,330 (£27,350) for every year of his wrongful imprisonment, not including lost wages and any damages he may win by suing the Ohio Department of Corrections. A previous inmate wrongfully jailed for a shorter period was awarded $1.4 million.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7120167.ece

[Heywood J]

6. If the payout came from the DA's budget and was on the order of $500,000 per year,

they'd make damn sure they were convicting the right people at trial.