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This version of the report has been prepared by: Dr Robert N Moles

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On 9 October 2007 Associated Press reported “Wrongly convicted man home 14 years later”.

Jason Whitely's report on Taylor's release.

A man who spent 14 years behind bars for a rape he did not commit is free. A state district judge said Ronald Taylor was released on a $10 bond. Taylor was serving a 60-year sentence for a 1993 rape that DNA evidence has proven he did not commit. The man whose DNA matches the evidence from the attack is already in prison for failing to register as a sex offender.

Taylor stood with his head high in court as he listened to the judge and the DA. “Your Honor, I want to apologize to Mr. Taylor for being wrongfully convicted,” Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said. Dorothy Henderson, Taylor’s mother, says she’s looking forward to bringing her son home and to watching him build a happy life. “I hold no grudges. The system works, but sometimes it fails,” Henderson said. Taylor simply told the judge “thank you.”

Taylor, 47, is the third innocent man released from prison because of mistakes made by the Houston Police Department’s troubled crime lab. Taylor appeared in front of state District Judge Denise Collins with his lawyers from the Texas Innocence Network and the Innocence Project, organizations that seek to free the wrongfully convicted, as well as Harris County prosecutors, who are supported Taylor’s release. “We’re all in agreement ... that Ronnie Taylor is innocent and spent the last 14 years incarcerated while the real perpetrator went unapprehended,” said Nina Morrison, an Innocence Project staff attorney.

The man whose DNA matches that found on the victim’s bedsheet is already in prison for failing to register as a sex offender. Taylor remained in jail since Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal acknowledged his innocence last week. The delays are common in these cases while authorities arrange an inmate’s release, Morrison and Rosenthal said.

Taylor was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1993 rape of a woman in her home. Taylor was convicted on the victim’s identification, Morrison said, although the victim told authorities she caught only a glimpse of her attacker’s face.

At the trial, an analyst with the Houston police crime lab testified that she had tested the bed sheet and found no semen. This summer, a private lab in New Orleans retested the bed sheet and found semen that was matched to Roosevelt Carroll, currently in prison for failing to register as a sex offender. The Innocence Project paid for the retesting.

Carroll also has been convicted of burglary with intent to commit sexual assault. Taylor’s initial efforts for post-conviction DNA testing were unsuccessful. “Mr. Taylor applied for DNA testing and it was refused because the Houston Police Department lab said there wasn’t anything to be able to test,” Rosenthal said. “They were obviously incorrect in that regard.”

Authorities will not prosecute Carroll because the statute of limitations has run out, Rosenthal said. An independent audit of the Houston crime lab in 2002 raised concerns about DNA analysis procedures. In June a former U.S. Justice Department inspector hired by the city cited hundreds of “serious and pervasive” flaws in forensic cases mishandled by the lab’s DNA and serology sections. Taylor’s case was not one of those identified in the audit.

The inspector also suggested a special master, such as a retired judge, be appointed to review 180 cases in question. City officials have opposed that recommendation. Rosenthal said he objects to an unelected official leading the review. “Instead what we have done with all these serology cases is take them back to the courts where there are elected judges responsible to the voters and told them about these cases,” Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal said his office’s cooperation with the Innocence Project shows it is interested in justice prevailing. “We didn’t have to cooperate with the Innocence Project,” Rosenthal said. “We did, and I am glad we did.”

Taylor’s rape conviction still won’t be cleared from his record. That will require either the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granting a writ of habeas corpus or a pardon from Gov. Rick Perry. Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said the governor has not received a request for pardon and would not comment on his plans. Despite spending all the time in jail, Taylor is not angry. "It don't do no good," Taylor said. "Getting upset only makes you sick so I quit getting upset."

His mother, Dorothy Henderson, doesn't hold a grudge either. "It needs repair, but I still believe in the system. As a matter of fact, I work for the system." Henderson is a cook at the Walker County Jail. She's now planning a bar-b-q dinner for her son's first day back home.

Twenty-nine Texas inmates have been exonerated by DNA testing, the most in the nation, according to Innocence Project figures. Thirteen have been from Dallas County, the highest figure for any one county in the country.

Source: 9 October 2007 Associated Press “Wrongly convicted man home 14 years later”.

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