Posted on 10/30/2004 10:21:53 PM PDT by Graybeard58
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A man who spent 10 years behind bars has been freed after a judge acknowledged new DNA evidence and overturned his conviction for raping a 13-year-old girl.
The San Joaquin County judge on Friday released Peter J. Rose, citing DNA tests that showed evidence used to convict Peter J. Rose did not match his genetic makeup.
Rose, 36, of Lodi, left Mule Creek State Prison in Ione late Friday amid tears and hugs from his children, relatives, friends and law students from San Francisco's Golden Gate University who pursued his case years after evidence had been stored away and forgotten.
"I've been doing this for 25 years, and I feel like this is the best use of my legal skills my entire career," said Oakland attorney Janice Brickley, a law professor who supervised the students on the case. "It was an incredibly emotional experience."
Brickley and students affiliated with the university's branch of the Northern California Innocence Project discovered evidence thought to have been lost or destroyed and won permission for new DNA tests that triggered the judge's decision Friday.
Brickley said she was nervous about letting Rose comment on the case because the district attorney could refile charges against him. He was believed to have gone to his mother's house in Mendocino County, but a phone number for her could not be found.
The girl was raped in 1994 while she was walking to school. Rose was arrested after she told police three weeks later that she believed he was responsible. But she had not identified him during a police lineup and initially told police her attacker was a stranger. Rose's attorneys a decade ago said he was an acquaintance of her family.
Rose was convicted in 1996 of rape, kidnapping and other charges based on blood evidence that prosecutors said linked Rose to the crime. A sobbing Rose, who had no previous history of violence, proclaimed his innocence as a judge sentenced him to 27 years in prison.
The district attorney's office has until January to decide if it will refile charges. Officials there said the office had lost contact with the victim.
Rose said Friday he probably will file a claim against the state.
I'm all for frying a guilty person, but "guilty" should be decided beyond a reasonable doubt
Too many prosecutors try to make names for themselves, promoting a future political career. Too many forget that their FIRST duty is to the Law and thereby - Justice.
I hope he sues them - and wins - a large sum.
And here you have your best argument against the death penalty.
Just when he was starting to like it!
Why are we making such a big deal of this? The Kerry people probably want to get him to the polls in a swing state...
Why are we making such a big deal of this? The Kerry people probably want to get him to the polls in a swing state...
Are you suggesting that he should not be allowed to vote?
I'm glad he was released, and I hope he wins a huge monetary amount from the state.
To stretch this incident into an indictment of capital punishment is going a little too far, however.
Wow. From this story its hard to see how he could have been convicted but I suppose there was other evidence. Glad he was released. What a terrible thing to have happened and I am surprised if the DA is thinking of refiling the charges against him.
And now the search for a rapist in an unsolved case!
YES!
This case makes the point that had this person been convicted of a crime punishable by death and had been put to death, well, he would not be looking at a huge monetary amount from the state.
It is not a stretch. It makes the point exactly.
That's what it looks like. Prosecutors pressured a 13 y/o girl to name a guy she had a) failed to pick out of a lineup and b) said she didn't know the person who raped her yet she knew the guy that was convicted.
IMHO, a clear case of prosecutorial misconduct.
Yep, but the sexual predator DNA database will catch up with him eventually.
Even if they "refile" there is NO WAY he gets convicted when DNA shows him NOT guilty.
And nothing will be done about it concerning the person or people who are responsible. They will keep their jobs and likely have done the same thing to others and will do it again in their zeal to convict someone - anyone.
Many states have limits on monetary awards for people wrongfully convicted. How much is ten years of loss of freedom worth?
Yeah, that does suck. I think prosecutors that mess up this way should be fired at the very least, and prosecuted themselves if a case can be made; civil rights violations come to mind.
I think a million bucks a year would be adequate, but nothing can replace the loss of your freedom.
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