Makes one wonder just how many more have lost so much of life on the wrong call. And points out as a lot of other DNA cases have in the last few years that Justice in our country needs a big overhall. Any ideas?

Dallas man freed by DNA testing after 27 years in prison By SCHUYLER DIXON, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 3 minutes ago

Dallas man freed by DNA testing after 27 years in prison - Yahoo! News

DALLAS - A Dallas man who spent more than 27 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit was freed Tuesday, after being incarcerated longer than any other wrongfully convicted U.S. inmate cleared by DNA testing.

James Lee Woodard stepped out of the courtroom and raised his arms to a throng of photographers. Supporters and other people gathered outside the court erupted in applause.

"No words can express what a tragic story yours is," state District Judge Mark Stoltz told Woodard at a brief hearing before his release.

Woodard, cleared of the 1980 murder of his girlfriend, became the 18th person in Dallas County to have his conviction cast aside. That's a figure unmatched by any county nationally, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.

"I thank God for the existence of the Innocence Project," Woodard, 55, told the court. "Without that, I wouldn't be here today. I would be wasting away in prison."

Overall, 31 people have been formally exonerated through DNA testing in Texas, also a national high. That does not include Woodard and at least three others whose exonerations will not become official until Gov. Rick Perry grants pardons or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals formally accepts the ruling of lower courts that have already recommended exoneration.

Woodard was sentenced to life in prison in July 1981 for the murder of a 21-year-old Dallas woman found raped and strangled near the banks of the Trinity River.

He was convicted primarily on the basis of testimony from two eyewitnesses, said Natalie Roetzel, the executive director of the Innocence Project of Texas. One has since recanted in an affidavit. As for the other, "we don't believe her testimony was accurate," Roetzel said.

Like nearly all the exonorees, Woodard has maintained his innocence throughout his time in prison. But after filing six writs with an appeals court, plus two requests for DNA testing, his pleas of innocence became so repetitive and routine that "the courthouse doors were eventually closed to him and he was labeled a writ abuser," Roetzel said.

"On the first day he was arrested, he told the world he was innocent ... and nobody listened," Jeff Blackburn, chief counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas, said during Tuesday's hearing.

He even stopped attending his parole hearings because gaining his release would have meant confessing to a crime he didn't do.

"It says a lot about your character that you were more interested in the truth than your freedom," the judge told Woodard after making his ruling.

Blackburn and prosecutors hailed Tuesday's hearing as a landmark moment of frequent adversaries working together.

Since the DNA evidence was tied to rape and Woodard was convicted of murder, Innocence Project attorneys had to prove that the same person committed both crimes. They said they couldn't have done that without access to evidence provided by Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins' office.

"You've got to have very good lawyers with a lot of experience and skill ... working on both ends of this case, hard," Blackburn said. "And you've also got to have government power behind what you do."

Under Watkins, Dallas County has a program supervised by the Innocence Project of Texas that is reviewing hundreds of cases of convicts who have requested DNA testing to prove their innocence.

While the number of exonerations on Watkins' watch continues to grow, he said this one was a little different.

"I saw the human side of it, and seeing the human said of it just gives you more courage to advocate for issues like this," said Watkins, who had breakfast with Woodard on Tuesday morning. "It gives me that resolve to go even further to find out who (the killer) is so that we can get him into custody."

Woodard said his family was "small and scattered," although he pointed out a niece in the courtroom. He said his biggest regret was not being with his mother when she died.

"I can tell you what I'd like to do first: breathe fresh, free air," Woodard said during a news conference in the courtroom after the hearing. "I don't know what to expect. I haven't been in Dallas since buses were blue."

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Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

Humans are what is wrong with the justice system.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

There must have been more evidence than this. Eyewitness evidence is usually rubbish. Okay, the story refers to the eyewitness evidence as providing the primary evidence so there must have been something else but heck even that says enough.

anyone wonder why the death penalty is a bad idea this to me is reason number 1.

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I totally agree.

And in addition, IMHO, this man should get a million dollars from the state. He should not have to work another day in his life.

This is outrageous.

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Obamanos!

If you want a justice system, which I do, you must except that things like this will happen. It is a pity, but oh well. It does not mean imprisonment is wrong, just that we are not perfect. Same goes for the death penalty, but that is a different thread. One that has been done many times.

It only means that we need to work harder and celebrate that we didn't forget about him, and that at least he has some life left to live.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

People are always working to further our precision, DNA testing being a great advancement. They will continue advancing our technology and our precision, but there is always human error and that is just something we have to live with.

He will be forgotten as I am sure we all will in time.

I know, but we should always strive to minimize human error, even though we know it will never go completely away, we should always try to minimize it.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

I have to say that I am basically in favor of the death penalty, despite stories like this one.

What I'm not so keen on, is the jury system. If my life and freedom is on the line, I want professionals well versed in the law deciding things, not twelve yokels, with nothing better to do, who get dazzled and confused by glib lawyers, and can't even ask questions. Look at the doofuses serving on the OJ trial.

DNA test them all, I say, absolutely. But why bother having rules if society isn't willing to enforce them consistently?

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There is no sig. There never was a sig. The sig is a lie.