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DALLAS - Charles Chatman said throughout his 26 years in prison that he never raped the woman who lived five houses down from him.
Now 47, Chatman is expected to win his freedom Thursday on the basis of new DNA testing that lawyers say proves his innocence and adds to Dallas County’s nationally unmatched number of wrongfully convicted inmates.
“I’m bitter. I’m angry,” Chatman told The Associated Press during what was expected to be his last night in jail Wednesday. “But I’m not angry or bitter to the point where I want to hurt anyone or get revenge.”
If released on bond at a Thursday court hearing as expected, Chatman will become the 15th inmate from Dallas County since 2001 to be freed by DNA testing. That is more than any other county nationwide, said Natalie Roetzel of the Innocence Project of Texas, an organization of volunteers who investigate claims of wrongful conviction.
Texas leads the country in prisoners freed by DNA testing. Including Chatman, the state will have released at least 30 wrongfully convicted inmates since 2001, according to the Innocence Project.
Charles Chatman said throughout his 26 years in prison that he never raped the woman who lived five houses down from him.
DALLAS (AP) - A Dallas man wrongly imprisoned since 1981 is free after a judge recommended overturning his 1981 aggravated sexual assault conviction.
With several of his eight siblings cheering his release, 47-year-old Charles Chatman was released on his own recognizance after serving nearly 27 years of a 99-year sentence.
That made Chatman the longest imprisoned inmate of 15 from Dallas County to be cleared by DNA testing. The 15 is the most of any county in the nation. In all, at least 30 Texas inmates have been cleared by DNA testing, according to the Innocence Project. That’s the most of any state in the nation.
For 27 years, Charles Chatman has maintained that he did not rape a woman who lived five doors down from him—a charge that landed him behind bars on a 99-year sentence.
Until this morning.
DNA testing found that the Dallas man was wrongly convicted, according to the Associated Press and, following a recommendation from a judge that his 1981 aggravated assault charge be overturned, Chatman is a free man.
That makes Chatman the latest of 15 inmates from Dallas County to be cleared of charges thanks to DNA testing, according to the Guardian Unlimited. Chatman spent the most time behind bars.
According to reports, 30 inmates in the state of Texas have been released from prison after DNA findings revealed they had been wrongly convicted.
That is the most of any state in the nation.
Eight siblings cheered the 47-year-old Chatman as he was released on his own recognizance from prison.