TX - DNA Clears Man Wrongly Imprisoned for 30 Years

[bessie]

The Innocence Project has helped to clear two more wrongly accused Texas inmates. But the exonerations based on DNA evidence for a crime committed over thirty years ago are a first for the state. One man has been released; the other is awaiting the outcome of evidence testing in a separate conviction.

The recent discovery of evidence preserved in the Texas crime lab since prior to 1981 holds promise for inmates serving time since the 1970's for crimes they did not commit. The exonerations of Dupree and Massingill are the first among the older cases, but more are likely to follow.

Dallas County man cleared in 1979 rape, robbery will be Texas' longest-serving exoneree

[SIZE=-1]12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, January 4, 2011

By JENNIFER EMILY / The Dallas Morning News

Cornelius Dupree Jr., 51, is expected to be exonerated today in a Dallas County courtroom. He is on parole after having been released in July. He spent more than 30 years in prison.

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The second man, Anthony Ray Massingill, 49, will remain behind bars for now while authorities search for evidence to test in a second rape for which he is serving a life sentence.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...eration_04met.ART.State.Edition1.1487b0e.html