DNA Clears Man of Rape After 27 Years in Prison

(AP)  DNA tests as part of a reopened investigation have exonerated a Houston man of a rape for which he has spent 27 years in prison, the Harris County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.

Michael Anthony Green, 44, is expected to be released on bond Thursday, the district attorney's office said in a statement. It remains only for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to clear Green's conviction.

Green was 18 when a Harris County jury convicted him in 1983 of aggravated sexual assault of a woman who was taken by several men from a pay telephone just north of Houston. He was the only person convicted in the crime and was serving a 75-year prison term.

The identities of those authorities now say are the true assailants were being withheld until the Thursday court hearing, said George Flynn, a spokesman for the district attorney's office.

Green's attorney, Robert Wicoff, blamed bad police work for his client spending almost three decades in prison for a crime he did not commit.

"It happened because the police didn't take all the steps they needed to take to make sure they had the right man. They also used suggestive interrogation techniques when they questioned the victim that prompted her to identify my client," he said.

"As you might imagine, he's pretty upset" to have lost his freedom for 27 years, Wicoff said.

A Houston police spokesman said the department had no statement.

According to the district attorney's office, four men abducted the woman from the Greenspoint district on April 18, 1983. They forced her into their vehicle and drove to a remote area, where three of the men sexually assaulted her.

Houston police pursued a stolen car resembling the description of the vehicle used in the abduction, and the car's four occupants stopped and fled on foot in different directions. Police came upon Green, who was walking in the area. The victim could not identify Green in person when he was first detained, but later picked him from a photo lineup as one of her three attackers.

Green maintained his innocence. When Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos formed the new Post-Conviction Review Section, his case was among the first taken up.

"The evidence in this case had been sitting in the district clerk's office for 27 years, and no one had taken the initiative to do anything with it in the past," First Assistant District Attorney Jim Leitner said in the statement.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which will look at Green's case. also is scheduled to review the 1990 sexual assault conviction of Allen Wayne Porter, 39, of Houston, who was freed on bond Friday after a review exonerated him after 19 years in prison.

Lykos called for the creation of a regional crime lab to process evidence, such as DNA evidence, for law enforcement agencies throughout the Houston area.

"It is unconscionable that the third-largest county in the nation and its largest city do not have the capacity to timely test all rape kits, and that it is unavailable to solve other crimes such as burglary and auto theft," she said in the statement. "There should be immediate action on the regional crime lab — justice and public safety demand this."

[truetrinifox]

first of all 75 years? the he was walking on the road and the victim could not describe? Sounds like a white victim/family/judge just wanting some little black boy to pay for the crime, did not matter who ..

[2catnight]

Surely there was a reason why they arrested this man 27 years ago...maybe he had a history of getting in trouble and would have ended up in prison anyway. Even if he was a good guy, he'll have more money now than he could ever have made in 27 years! That may not be a good consolation but it helps.

[tmittelstaed]

Green gets $80K a year for every year that he was imprisoned per the state law. The men who actually did the rape are known and went on to committ other crimes, one is still in jail. But the statue of limitations has expired and they cannot be convicted. The woman who falsely accused Green has appealed to various news organizations to NOT publish her name - even though her name is in the public record - and they seem to be obeying the appeal.

I don't see how Michael Green can forgive unless apologies are made to him by the actual prosecutor and accuser. Hopefully those people, if they are still alive, will do their duty and apologize.

[formrusmcsgt]

They also used suggestive interrogation techniques when they questioned the victim that prompted her to identify my client," he said.
---
So she idintified an innocent man rather than speak the truth?

That broad needs to do 27 years......

[tiredofthebs]

If I said it once I've said it a thousand times ...... NEVER SELECT TRIAL BY JURY! Do you really want 12 janitors, fast food workers, housewives, etc. deciding your fate?! Want proof? Warren Jeffs (a real piece of trash) just had his conviction overturned. I'm quite sure it made the judge sick, but it was the proper thing to do legally. Ordinary people are incapable of removing emotion from their decision. That is why our system fails.

[tiredofthebs]

If I said it once I've said it a thousand times ...... NEVER SELECT TRIAL BY JURY! Do you really want 12 janitors, fast food workers, housewives, etc. deciding your fate?! Want proof? Warren Jeffs (a real piece of trash) just had his conviction overturned. I'm quite sure it made the judge sick, but it was the proper thing to do legally. Ordinary people are incapable of removing emotion from their decision. That is why our system fails.

[billpl-2009]

hasn't DNA testing like this been around for more than 10 years?
what takes these guys so long?
If I were innocent and sitting in jail, I would have made the request long long ago

...oh and by the way. being found innocent of a crime that you didn't commit doesn't automatically make you a saint

[tiredofthebs]

Case in point. Would you want this poster sitting on a jury that is deciding whether you will spend a good portion of your adult life in jail?! FYI .... there are numerous organizations dedicated to helping people just like this man. I'm pretty sure he's been trying to prove his innocence for A LONG TIME. Too, NO ONE IS A SAINT! But this man lost 27 years for a crime he didn't commit. So do us all a favor and have a nice hot cup of "****" !!!!!

[stn_sage]

NICE! A man sits in jail FALSELY accused for 27 years?! So, much for
justice in America!
The prosecutor(s) and judge(s) who participated in this travesty, this fraud, this blight of justice, ought to be arrested, charged with misconduct and improperly performing their jobs, and left there...for the next 27 years! THAT, would be just(ice)!

[djseavy]

I hope people who read about an accusation and immediately want to hang the accused, will think about this case. I've seen cases like this that the man sat in jail for years, wrongly convicted. Then, when cleared scientifically, the police and DA have the balls to try to convince the public that the right man was in prison, and they never make mistakes. Prosecutors are dirty people; they're politicians and would seek a conviction against their own grandmother if it meant a boost to their career.

[URunderarrest]

This is why the death penalty has to be abolished. How many innocent men are lying in the ground because of bad cops?