innocent man serves 30 years in prison

Texan declared innocent after 30 years in prison


:Man declared innocent after 30 years in prison By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press Jeff Carlton, Associated Press – 1 hr 1 min ago

DALLAS – A Texas man had his conviction overturned Tuesday for a rape and robbery he didn't commit after serving 30 years in prison, more time than any other inmate subsequently exonerated by DNA evidence in his state.

Cornelius Dupree Jr., 51, was formally cleared of the aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon conviction that had kept him behind bars from December 1979 until July of 2010. He served 30 years of his 75-year sentence before making parole in July. About a week later, DNA test results came back proving his innocence.

"It's a joy to be free again," Dupree said after the ruling in a Dallas courtroom.

Dupree is the longest-serving inmate cleared by DNA evidence in Texas, which has freed 41 wrongly convicted inmates through DNA since 2001 — more than any other state.

Nationally, only two others who have been exonerated by DNA evidence spent more time in prison, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center representing Dupree that specializes in wrongful conviction cases. James Bain was wrongly imprisoned for 35 years in Florida, and Lawrence McKinney spent more than 31 years in a Tennessee prison.

The DNA testing in Dupree's case also excluded a second defendant, Anthony Massingill, who was subsequently convicted in another sexual assault case and sentenced to life in prison. Massingill remains in prison but maintains his innocence. DNA testing in that second case is ongoing.

Sitting on the courtroom benches were at least six other Texas men wrongly imprisoned but later cleared by either DNA testing or other means. The men have made a habit of showing up together every time a new man is declared innocent.

Dupree was charged in 1979 with raping and robbing a 26-year-old woman. He was sentenced a year later to 75 years in prison for aggravated robbery. He was never tried on the rape charge.

According to court documents, the woman and her male companion stopped at a Dallas liquor store in November 1979 to buy cigarettes and use a payphone. As they returned to their car, two men, at least one of whom was armed, forced their way into the vehicle and ordered them to drive. They also demanded money from the two victims.

The men eventually ordered the car to the side of the road and forced the male driver out of the car. The woman attempted to flee but was pulled back inside.

The perpetrators drove the woman to a nearby park, where they raped her at gunpoint. They debated killing her but eventually let her live, keeping her rabbit-fur coat and her driver's license and warning her they would kill her if she reported the assault to police. The victim ran to the nearest highway and collapsed unconscious by the side of the road, where she was discovered.

Dupree and Massingill were arrested in December because they looked similar to two suspects being sought in another sexual assault and robbery. The 26-year-old woman picked both men out of a photo array, but her male companion did not identify either defendant in the same photo array.

Dupree was convicted and spent the next three decades appealing. The Court of Criminal Appeals turned him down three times.
=========================================================
watch yourselves gentlemen ...you better have all kinds of documentation to show where you were at the time of a crime

 

Damn shame.

Key evidence was withheld from the defence...as usual...and not a damn thing will happen to the prosecutors that withheld it.

 

exactly . a travesty of justice

 

The system never punishes prosecutors for hiding/destroying evidence...so don't expect anything to change unless they get HARD TIME...which will never happen.

 

In the state of alabama you cant sue the police or anybody in the state legal system

 

Yet you have mofos moaning for the cops when they get the shitty end of the stick...fuck them..

Just think how crazy and out of control you'd be if you can't be sued...or even punished.

No wonder they act like fucking animals.

 

oh hell yeah. I was at the courthouse for a broken head light...they were screaming everyone to get in a certain line. The cop was walking pass and I stated " excuse me sir"

he jumped in my grill screaming " what do you want ?" it was a brother and he flexed like he wanted to take me out.

I was like damn, this dude need to take some laxatives for real.

I kept my cool.. I looked around and this sista (hoodrat) hat this look on her face like "what the fuck ?"

so another cop walked up and kinda diffused the situation at least on the tail end of the convo. I just replied to the first cop where do I stand. the other cop kind of intervened at that point. it is hard to tell the story because it happened two years ago

 

Am I the only one who thinks 75 fucking years for robbery is excessive. That shit is blatant cruel and unsual punishment. Especially when many slaughter gets a max of 15 years. This is another reason why I stay my black ass out of the south.

 

A lot of those pigs are juiced-up...not only on steroids...but knowledge they'd never be punished...

That seems fine with certain people for some strange reason.

 

The south is coming to you.

Yeeee Haaaaaa...!!

 

Well I guess the best thing to do is stack money like crazy so I can hire the best legal team if need be.

 

YEEEEE HAAAAA...!!!!!

 

You don't have to be in the south to have BS happen to you. I know a lot of folks from up North that have stories of unjust stuff having to family members and close friends.

But I'll admit down South the blatant racism is upfront. There was this judge recently that was convicted for solicting prostitutes and purchasing drugs. Shocking thing is now they say he deliberately handed down longer prisons sentences to black offenders. Nothing new about that really since the good old boy network still thrives within the Judical System.

 

I must have missed something. From what I read, Mr. Dupree's wrongful conviction was primarily based upon a misidentification by an eyewitness. What evidence was withheld from the defense?

FYI: There is a lot of interesting information on exonerations on The Innocent Project's website: http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Facts_on_PostConviction_DNA_Exonerations.php

 

So basically it comes down to one thing. To be treated like a poor white guy you have to be a wealthy black guy. Pure and simple.

 

there is nothing new about this shit at all..stop acting in disbelief



this is exactly why NAACP et al still have a purpose

if you got dicked by the system and had no voice, you'd want to be able to reach them too

 

Doesn't matter if you have money or not, they'll still convict you. But it can get you a good lawyer when need one.

 

I saw this shit on Yahoo and didn't even have to read the article to know the MFer was from Texas.

 

One of the many reasons why I'm NEVER moving to Texas. I don't even care to visit, much less.

 

You're not missing much. Austin is like a free liberal zone in TX, anywhere else, forget it.