Posted on 02/16/2020 10:39:32 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Nearly a decade into his life sentence for murder, Lydell Grant was escorted out of a Texas prison in November with his hands held high, free on bail, all thanks to DNA re-examined by a software program.
"The last nine years, man, I felt like an animal in a cage," Grant, embracing his mother and brother, told the crush of reporters awaiting him in Houston. "Especially knowing that I didn't do it."
Now, Grant, 42, is on a fast-track to exoneration after a judge recommended in December that Texas' highest criminal court vacate his conviction. His attorneys are hopeful a ruling is made in the coming weeks.
But for Grant, to get to here hinged on two necessary prongs: the DNA evidence, which was reanalyzed through an emerging software that has also come under scrutiny, and an unprecedented decision to use the findings to conduct an FBI criminal database search that was initiated by a third party not part of the initial investigation. That ultimately led to the discovery of a new suspect, who has been charged after police say he confessed.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Does it mention in the article what his compensation for false imprisonment shall be?
Amen to that.
Texas has a statutory amount for false imprisonment . It is up to $80,000 per year, and eligible to receive month payments amounting to $80,000 per year for the rest of their life so long as they are not convicted of another felony.
So the first DNA results were wrong??
I don’t get it. It accidentally matched the Person on Trial?? That’s like 10000000000 to one odds!!
I still don’t understand the whole thing.
No shock there :)
According to the article, the victim had two dna profiles under his fingernails: his own, and an unidentified second male. There was no match to the convict, but the police lab testified that he “couldn’t be ruled out”. He was convicted on the strength of eye witnesses and the BS dna evidence. I think he got railroaded. Unfortunately there will be no sanction against the lab employees who testified to get a conviction.
That was the same screwjob NYS BCI tried to pull on my brother back in 1990 when two DNA tests came back saying “not the perp”.
Cue the next twenty years of police harassment on my family until the guy who did the crime got caught due to felony DWI and mandatory DNA sample from same.
Thanks. I decided to read it.
Well this guy can go back to driving with a suspended license, narcotics, theft and maybe he’ll kill somebody some day anyway :)
But of course he’s innocent of this and that’s what matters.
But the innocence project sickens me because they didn’t a #### about the victims of crimes these animals have affected before their wrongful conviction.
Who is this a victory for?
His next robbery or assault victim.
I KNOW this Had To be corrected. Justice must be served.
But this guy’s a POS and a lawyer holding his hand up in freaking victory makes me want to throw up
“Does it mention in the article what his compensation for false imprisonment shall be?”
I didn’t see that. That will have to be addressed separately, probably by the legislature.
Exoneration is NOT a finding of “Not Guilty”.
“Exoneration is NOT a finding of “Not Guilty”.”
If I read the story correctly, the man was found guilty and has spent a long time in prison.
New evidence - and a guilty plea by someone else - is now moving the case forward to the next phase: exoneration.
I’m not sure how it works in Texas but if things continue along this path he will soon be recognized as innocent of the crime with which he was charged.
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