15th Dallas County Inmate Since ’01 Is Freed by DNA
Charles Chatman spent nearly 27 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, and he was freed today based on DNA evidence that countered a neighbour's misidentification of him as the suspect. The reason he was able to be freed? The lab used by the Texas county keeps their evidence, unlike some others. So even though the crime took place in 1981, they were still able to determine that his DNA did not match the vaginal swab taken at the time. Mr Chatman said he did not blame the woman who fingered him, but does feel like his case turned out like it did because he is black.
It was bad enough that his man had been wrongly put in prison, sentenced to 99 years, whilst an actual rapist was left free. Imagine how such mistakes can be even more harmful in death penalty cases. The article states that since 1973, 126 death row inmates have been freed on DNA evidence. 126. Okay, that breaks down to 3-4 people a year. But that's 3-4 lives each year that would otherwise be flushed away based on a lie. Now that's scary.
PS I have several things to blog about sitting in my inbox, but I'm too tired to blog much now, and I have to get up in 5 hours. I'll try to catch up later. 'Night.
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