I guess in a few days some in the Georgia legislature will try to make it easier to impose the death penalty. That seems to be their habit after it's been proven that an innocent person has spent decades in prison.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/06/texas.exoneration/index.html
(CNN) -- A Texas district court judge Friday reversed the conviction of a man who died in prison nearly a decade ago, almost two decades into a prison sentence for a rape he swore he did not commit, CNN affiliate KXAN reported.
Timothy Cole was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 1985 rape of 20-year-old Michele Mallin. He maintained his innocence, but it was not confirmed by DNA until years after his 1999 death, when another inmate confessed to the rape.
In the courtroom of Judge Charlie Baird Friday afternoon, Mallin, now 44, faced Jerry Johnson, the man who confessed to the rape.
"What you did to me, you had no right to do," she told him angrily, according to Austin's KXAN. "You've got no right to do that to any woman. I am the one with the power now, buddy."
Cole's family also addressed Johnson.
"He'll never have the chance to have children," Cole's mother, Ruby Session, said. "I want you to know he was a fine young man."
Johnson has been in prison since 1985 on two convictions for aggravated sexual assault, according to the Texas Department of Corrections. He was given a life sentence for the rape of a 15-year-old girl, and a jury later tacked on a 99-year sentence for another rape, according to the Lubbock, Texas, Avalanche-Journal. He cannot be charged with the Mallin case, as the statute of limitations has expired.
Johnson also spoke Friday.
"I am responsible," he said. "I say I am truly sorry."
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