U.S. & World

DALLAS (AP) ― A Dallas man wrongly imprisoned since 1981 is free after a judge recommended overturning his aggravated sexual assault conviction.

With several of his eight siblings cheering his release, 47-year-old Charles Chatman was released on his own recognizance after serving nearly 27 years of a 99-year sentence.

That made Chatman the longest imprisoned inmate of 15 from Dallas County to be cleared by DNA testing. That is the most of any county in the nation. In all, at least 30 Texas inmates have been cleared by DNA testing, according to the Innocence Project. That's the most of any state in the nation.

Mike Ware, who heads the Conviction Integrity Unit in the Dallas County District Attorney's office, said he expects that number to increase.

Chatman said throughout his 26 years in prison that he never raped the woman who lived five houses down from him.

"I'm bitter. I'm angry," Chatman told The Associated Press during what was expected to be his last night in jail Wednesday. "But I'm not angry or bitter to the point where I want to hurt anyone or get revenge."

Chatman's nearly 27 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault make him the longest-serving inmate in Texas to be freed by DNA evidence, Innocence Project lawyers said. They brought Chatman brand-new clothes, including pants, a collared shirt, socks and shoes, to the jail late Wednesday for him to wear upon his release.

"Tomorrow is your big day," Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel of the Innocence Project of Texas, told Chatman.

Chatman was 20 when the victim, a young woman in her 20s, picked him from a lineup. Chatman said he lived five houses down from the victim for 13 years but never knew her.

At the time the woman was assaulted, Chatman said he didn't have any front teeth; he had been certain that feature would set him apart from the real assailant.

"I'm not sure why he ended up on that photo spread to begin with," Ware said.

Chatman, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 1981 and sentenced to life in prison, credited his faith for not extinguishing his hope for exoneration after more than a quarter-century in prison.

"I want this situation addressed," Chatman said of his conviction. "But I don't have the anger that I used to."

Ware said Chatman would likely be released on a personal recognizance bond until the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals makes an official ruling on his case.

Dallas County public defender Michelle Moore said Chatman applied for DNA testing in 2004 but was told the process could be risky. The only evidence containing DNA was from a vaginal swab of the victim, Moore said, and a single test would consume the entire sample. An inconclusive test would exhaust all evidence.

Chatman was again warned of the gamble when he reapplied for testing early last year.

"This is a guy who's had to face horrible decisions," Moore said.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins has started a program in which law students, supervised by the Innocence Project of Texas, are reviewing about 450 cases in which convicts have requested DNA testing to prove their innocence.

One of the inmates helped by the Innocence Project, Clay Reed Chabot, is expected to be retried. DNA tests refuted the testimony of a key prosecution witness in the case, but prosecutors say DNA testing did not exonerate Chabot in the murder.

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