January 4th, 2012

Rickey Wyatt held his 4-year-old granddaughter for the first time today after he was freed from prison after spending 31 years behind bars for a rape he insists he did not commit. Judge John Creuzot freed Wyatt and recommends that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacate his conviction after it recently came to light that prosecutors withheld evidence that could have cleared Wyatt at trial in 1981. Evidence included a photo showing Wyatt with facial hair and documentation showing that he weighed 135 lbs at the time of the crime. Victims said the rapist was clean-shaven and weighed upwards of 170 lbs. The information was recently uncovered after the DA’s office allowed Wyatt’s defense attorneys to examine their files. To date, 22 men in Dallas County, Texas alone have been exonerated through DNA testing.

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