Another innocent man would have been freed from jail in Texas. Unfortunately, Tim Cole died first. This is the first posthumous pardon for Texas.

In 1985, Timothy Cole was a student when he was arrested and accused of being the Texas Tech rapist. A string of coeds had been raped, and the young African-American man from Fort Worth, who'd never been in trouble with the law before, was convicted largely on the eyewitness account of one rape victim.

Prosecutors offered Cole a plea bargain offer; he would have been exchanged a guilty plea for release and a probation period. Cole refused, and a negligent jury convicted him and imposed a 25-year sentence.

Three things will jump out at anyone who takes a look at some of the facts in the case.

One, the victim claimed that the man that was the rapist had been smoking the entire time that he drove her to the outskirts of town to rape her. Tim Cole had severe asthma and he never smoked.

Two, no physical evidence tied Cole to the crime. Although the rapist drove the car extensively, Cole's fingerprints were not found in the vehicle.

Third, Cole also had a solid alibi. At the time of the rape, he was studying in his apartment while his brother was having a card party in the living room. Several young people testified at trial that Cole was in the apartment with them all evening.

What kind of prosecutor, investigator, district attorney, or human being ignores the facts of their case and is willing to send an innocent man to jail for 25 years because the people demand justice for crimes that have been committed? - Read Story

Another innocent man is free from jail in Texas. Ernest Sonnier was released on Friday, August 7TH, 2009 after DNA testing implicated two different men in the 1986 rape for which Sonnier was convicted. Sonnier has spent twenty-three years in prison, always maintaining his innocence.

The release of Ernest Sonnier is just the latest case that highlights the ongoing problem of wrongful convictions in Texas. - Read Story

After spending 14 years in North Carolina prison for the rape of two teenagers, Joseph Abbitt became a free man again on Septemeber 3, 2009 because DNA evidence has now proved him innocent of rape.

In 1991, two sisters were preparing for school when someone broke into their home and raped them both. The girls believed that the intruder was a man who lived 2 doors down, and then picked Joseph out of a photo lineup. Abbitt was convicted in 1995 even though he had been working at the time of the attack.

In late 2008, with the help of the innocence center, Abbitt was granted DNA testing on remaining evidence. After two rounds of testing, Abbitt was excluded. - Read Story

James Bain used a cell phone from Florida for the first time Thursday, December 17Th, 2009 calling his elderly mother to tell her he had been freed after 35 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

Mobile devices didn't exist in 1974, the year he was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a 9-year-old boy and raping him in a nearby field.

Neither did the sophisticated DNA testing that officials more recently used to determine he could not have been the rapist. - Read Story

An Arizona man is free after serving 28 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

On Tuesday, December 15TH, 2009 a judge in Washington, D.C. ordered the immediate release of 58-year-old Donald Eugene Gates after DNA testing showed he was innocent of the rape and murder of a young woman.

Gates was released from a federal prison in Tucson. He left the facility with $75, winter clothes and a bus ticket to Ohio, which is where he is originally from.

The work of a Federal Bureau of Investigation forensic analyst involved in the rape and murder investigation has now been called into question. - Read Story