DA Bill Hill - Dallas; TX - Stuck behind bars for more than
Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:30AM
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DNA test exonerates Dallas man convicted of rape

By JEFF CARLTON Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
Sept. 19, 2008

DALLAS — Stuck behind bars for more than 25 years for a rape he insisted he didn't commit, Johnnie Earl Lindsey wrote six letters to a Dallas County court seeking post-conviction DNA testing to prove his innocence.

Lindsey, who walked out of court a free man Friday after a judge recommended overturning his aggravated rape conviction, said all six were ignored.

"I couldn't get nobody to hear my case," said Lindsey, 56. "Once I could get someone to pay attention to what's going on, there was no doubt in my mind I would be exonerated."

That day came Friday, about a week after testing on DNA evidence from a rape kit taken after a 1981 sexual assault of a Dallas woman excluded Lindsey as the source.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6011636.html (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6011636.html)

God, i hate hearing stuff like that. I actully saw the man on the news b/c I live in Dallas and he was talking to the girl that claimed he raped her. I think this is the same guy you are talking about there are so many in Dallas, Texas and Texas alone that are wronglly convicted everyday on a rape charge. Anyways, he said that he wasn't mad at her for getting him convicted and she apologized to him. I just thought to myself "wow, what a strong man." I honestly don't think I could ever forgive someone that put me in prison for 25 years.

WooooooooooooHooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

These cases annoy me soooooooo much. WHY is the DNA not tested years before? My PP on DR in Texas is fighting and has just got a case into court pleading to have the DNA in his case tested. This should be an automatic process, not one an inmate has to fight for, with a chance a judge will say no. Why do judges say no? It could help to clear an innocent person, and when the sentence is death, the judges who refuse are as bad as the executioners IMO. If at a later date, an executed inmate is found to have been innocent, these judges should be charged with murder, as they could have stopped an innocent man being killed.

I am so pleased for the guy in this case, I just hope after 25 years in prison, he can go on and make a great life for himself.

Not only does it often take decades to get DNA evidence tested, in many if not most cases the inmate and his/her family have to pay for the cost of such testing. At the very least, the cost is several thousand dollars--it can run into the hundreds of thousands. Where is a prisoner supposed to come up with that sort of money?

I cannot help but wonder how many people are currently in prison with legitimate claims of innocence about which they can do nothing because they cannot afford to prove their innocence.

If the state is going to convict and hand out a big sentence, the state should also shell out the money for DNA testing to cover their behinds.

This isn't really an exoneration from Death Row. I'm glad he is out, granted the money he receives won't make up for missed time and wages.

I entirely agree--a criminal trial should involve presentation of all of the evidence on both sides of the case. Serving up the Texas-style icky pictures of the victim to get the jury to convict just doesn't cut it. So far they're getting away with it, as long as they pick on people with no money, of course.

Nowhere in the United States Constitution do I find the phrase "Equal Justice Under Law If A Multimillionaire". But that's what's happening. People are dying, especially in Texas, not because they were found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but because they could not "prove themselves innocent" (that is, conversely, a direct quote from a juror in a Texas capital case).