Apr 20, 2007 9:36 pm US/Central
Man Formally Exonerated Of Dallas County Rape
DALLAS (AP) ―
A man who served seven years in prison for a rape he was later cleared of has been formally exonerated by an appeals court, his attorneys said Friday.
Andrew Gossett is the 28th person exonerated through DNA in Texas since 1994 -- the most than any other state, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.
Gossett is the 12th person exonerated by DNA testing since 2001 in Dallas County -- where the Innocence Project of Texas is being given unprecedented access to review the cases of hundreds of inmates.
Gossett was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the February 1999 sexual assault of a woman who identified him as her attacker.
In December 2006, testing on evidence from the rape concluded Gossett was not the man who raped a woman after jumping into her vehicle while she waited for the light to change at an intersection, the Innocence Project said in a statement.
He was released from prison in January, but Texas law requires the Court of Criminal Appeals to officially exonerate people. The court granted Gossett's request based on actual innocence.
His exoneration comes just days before the state Senate plans to discuss a bill to create a commission charged with investigating and preventing wrongful convictions. Members of the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee approved the measure earlier this month and it is scheduled for debate Monday.
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