Man Serves 17 Years For Rape Is Exonerated

George Rodriguez was convicted of rape in 1987 after a Texas jury found him guilty.  In 2004, a Texas appeals court ordered that he be released after they found that the scientific evidence that was used at his trial was faulty.  The prosecutor declined to retry Rodriguez claiming that they did not want the victim to be put through the ordeal of having to testify again.  The prosecutor's office dismissed the charges against Rodriguez and he petitioned the governor's office for a pardon.  Texas prosecutors objected to Rodriguez's request for a pardon and Rodriguez demanded that a DNA test of the evidence be conducted.  In 2009 a new prosecutor took office and she agreed to conduct the new DNA test.  Last month the DNA results came back and conclusively cleared Rodriguez of any involvement in the rape.  In response, the prosecutor's office has asked that a judge formally find Rodriguez not guilty of the rape.  Rodriguez served 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.  There's another case involving the same prosecutor in which a man who is currently serving 60 years for a rape requested a DNA test which has linked another individual, who had long been considered an alternate suspect to the rape.  The alternate suspect is now deceased.

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