DNA Exonerates Man In Prison For 26 Years

Convicted Of Rape In 1981, Texas Inmate Freed After DNA Test Proves His Innocence

(AP)  A Dallas man wrongly imprisoned since 1981 is free after a judge recommended overturning his aggravated sexual assault conviction.

With several of his eight siblings cheering his release, 47-year-old Charles Chatman was released on his own recognizance after serving nearly 27 years of a 99-year sentence.

That made Chatman the longest imprisoned inmate of 15 from Dallas County to be cleared by DNA testing. That is the most of any county in the nation. In all, at least 30 Texas inmates have been cleared by DNA testing, according to the Innocence Project. That's the most of any state in the nation.

Mike Ware, who heads the Conviction Integrity Unit in the Dallas County District Attorney's office, said he expects that number to increase.

Chatman said throughout his 26 years in prison that he never raped the woman who lived five houses down from him.

“I'm bitter. I'm angry,” Chatman told The Associated Press during what was expected to be his last night in jail Wednesday. “But I'm not angry or bitter to the point where I want to hurt anyone or get revenge.”

Chatman's nearly 27 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault make him the longest-serving inmate in Texas to be freed by DNA evidence, Innocence Project lawyers said. They brought Chatman brand-new clothes, including pants, a collared shirt, socks and shoes, to the jail late Wednesday for him to wear upon his release.

“Tomorrow is your big day,” Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel of the Innocence Project of Texas, told Chatman.

Chatman was 20 when the victim, a young woman in her 20s, picked him from a lineup. Chatman said he lived five houses down from the victim for 13 years but never knew her.

At the time the woman was assaulted, Chatman said he didn't have any front teeth; he had been certain that feature would set him apart from the real assailant.

“I'm not sure why he ended up on that photo spread to begin with,” Ware said.

Chatman, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 1981 and sentenced to life in prison, credited his faith for not extinguishing his hope for exoneration after more than a quarter-century in prison.

“I want this situation addressed,” Chatman said of his conviction. “But I don't have the anger that I used to.”

Ware said Chatman would likely be released on a personal recognizance bond until the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals makes an official ruling on his case.

Dallas County public defender Michelle Moore said Chatman applied for DNA testing in 2004 but was told the process could be risky. The only evidence containing DNA was from a vaginal swab of the victim, Moore said, and a single test would consume the entire sample. An inconclusive test would exhaust all evidence.

Chatman was again warned of the gamble when he reapplied for testing early last year.

“This is a guy who's had to face horrible decisions,” Moore said.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins has started a program in which law students, supervised by the Innocence Project of Texas, are reviewing about 450 cases in which convicts have requested DNA testing to prove their innocence.

One of the inmates helped by the Innocence Project, Clay Reed Chabot, is expected to be retried. DNA tests refuted the testimony of a key prosecution witness in the case, but prosecutors say DNA testing did not exonerate Chabot in the murder.

[kailumego1]

For all those screaming and foaming at the mouth about the Duke case, at least none of the alleged defendants were actually convicted and served time for a crime neither had committed.

But in this case an innocent man went to prison for 26.5 years for a crime he didn''t commit, so where is the outrage over his just "monetary compensation"?

It is cases such as this one that merits hefty monetary settlements, and not the 30 mill given to these spoiled little rich brats that brought this on themselves.

And I know there will be many hypocrites out there arguing he shouldn''t receive millions, claiming the legal system is already over-burden by "lawsuits".

But how can you justify the Duke defendants receiving 30 mill, for a minor inconvenience, while this man spent 26.5 years in prison?

[nv4me]

How many more are there?
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words:
www.poconocommunitynews.com

[quetzal666]

In Houston a federal Judge Closed down the Criminal Lab because of incompetence, the person in charge was fired, thousands of cases had to be retried,
after a few years the lab reoppened, and just last month a crime lab worker was arrested for tampering with evidence and being high on the job........
he was diluting evidence and doing it on the job,
he has since been fired and charged.
whats wrong with Texas?
too many people wanting to win a case at any cost to further their careers, ive heard people say
i knew he was innocent, but he got due process.

[whatithink-2009]

Texas leads the nation in DNA reversals of convicted people. Shouldn''t this one fact put the fear of God in the hearts of those who have executed people in that state? If you execute an innocent person, what does that make you?

[Krazcarl]

Locking up folks for fun in Texas,,,,

[knyghtwolf]

Dowjones20k, I have lived in well over half the states in the union, growing up in a military family, that''s just how it was, but in all, and I do mean ALL the states I have ever lived, texass was the absolute worst one of them all. I am not bitter about this, but I am angry that this still goes on today in the youth judicial system. My son paid a hard price for this as soon as we could, we got out of texass and got on with our lives, the problem is that too many are still stuck there suffering, dying, being used & abused by good ole'' boys, meaning NOTHING but harm, sick & twisted with oil money and shoe sized IQ''s, playing god with a child''s mind just because they think they can.

[kansas1946]

Well, what a suprise. Another innocent person convicted in Texas. Something stinks in Texas. They execute about a person a month. More people than the whold country combined. I can just imagine how many innocent people have been put to death in Texas. They must have the most corrupt prosecutors and the dumbest jurors in the nation.

[klingon69]

oops, should''ve read nobody has been executed by hanging in TEXAS in decades.

[klingon69]

I''''m against the death penalty for this very reason.In Texas,they hang''''em first and then ask questions later.Death row still hasn''''t stopped violent criminals.Education is cheaper than sitting in jail.If you can turn them towards reading,you can turn them away from a life of crime.If he started reading the legal books,he would have been released much sooner.
Posted by MagicMerlin8 at 07:42 PM : Jan 03, 2008
Nobody in Texas has been executed for decades.
Knightwolf:
Sorry about your child''s legal problems, however from personal experience, alot of those caught and incarcerated in TEXAS are displaced yankee scum, who have met the end of their reign in the great north

[dylanxxv]

Just say "NO zebras"...