Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

DALLAS (AP) ― A man who spent 12 years in prison for a rape that DNA evidence later proved he did not commit is expected to be released from prison Tuesday in Houston, attorneys said.

Ronald Taylor, 47, would be the third innocent man released from prison because of mistakes made by the Houston Police Department's troubled crime lab.

Taylor is scheduled to appear in front of state District Judge Denise Collins with his lawyers from the Texas Innocence Network and the Innocence Project, organizations that seek to free the wrongfully convicted, as well as Harris County prosecutors, who are supporting Taylor's release.

"We're all in agreement ... that Ronnie Taylor is innocent and spent the last 14 years incarcerated while the real perpetrator went unapprehended," said Nina Morrison, an Innocence Project staff attorney.

The man whose DNA matches that found on the victim's bedsheet is already in prison for failing to register as a sex offender.

Taylor has remained in jail since Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal acknowledged his innocence last week. The delays are common in these cases while authorities arrange an inmate's release, Morrison and Rosenthal said.

Even if the judge grants his release as expected Tuesday, Taylor will still have to return to the county jail to get processed out, Morrison said.

"The sheriff's department has assured us they will move as quickly as possible," Morrison said. Morrison didn't expect it to take very long for Taylor to then be released.

Taylor was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1993 rape of a woman in her home. Taylor was convicted on the victim's identification, Morrison said, although the victim told authorities she caught only a glimpse of her attacker's face.

At the trial, an analyst with the Houston police crime lab testified that she had tested the bed sheet and found no semen. This summer, a private lab in New Orleans retested the bed sheet and found semen that was matched to Roosevelt Carroll, currently in prison for failing to register as a sex offender. The Innocence Project paid for the retesting.

Carroll also has been convicted of burglary with intent to commit sexual assault.

Taylor's initial efforts for post-conviction DNA testing were unsuccessful.

"Mr. Taylor applied for DNA testing and it was refused because the Houston Police Department lab said there wasn't anything to be able to test," Rosenthal said. "They were obviously incorrect in that regard."

Authorities will not prosecute Carroll because the statute of limitations has run out, Rosenthal said.

An independent audit of the Houston crime lab in 2002 raised concerns about DNA analysis procedures. In June a former U.S. Justice Department inspector hired by the city cited hundreds of "serious and pervasive" flaws in forensic cases mishandled by the lab's DNA and serology sections. Taylor's case was not one of those identified in the audit.

The inspector also suggested a special master, such as a retired judge, be appointed to review 180 cases in question. City officials have opposed that recommendation. Rosenthal said he objects to an unelected official leading the review.

"Instead what we have done with all these serology cases is take them back to the courts where there are elected judges responsible to the voters and told them about these cases," Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal said his office's cooperation with the Innocence Project shows it is interested in justice prevailing.

"We didn't have to cooperate with the Innocence Project," Rosenthal said. "We did, and I am glad we did."

If Taylor is freed Tuesday, his rape conviction still won't be cleared from his record. That would require either the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granting a writ of habeas corpus or a pardon from Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said the governor has not received a request for pardon and would not comment on his plans.

Twenty-nine Texas inmates have been exonerated by DNA testing, the most in the nation, according to Innocence Project figures. Thirteen have been from Dallas County, the highest figure for any one county in the country.

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