Man Exonerated After 35 Years – A Florida man named James Bain was exonerated after 35 years in prison after DNA evidence cleared him of rape.
James Bain has been freed after 35 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit after he was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a 9-year-old boy and raping him in a nearby field.
Sophisticated DNA testing was recently used to determine he could not have been the rapist.
“Nothing can replace the years Jamie has lost,” said Seth Miller, a lawyer for the Florida Innocence Project, which helped Bain win freedom. “Today is a day of renewal.”
Bain spent more time in prison than any of the 246 inmates previously exonerated by DNA evidence nationwide, according to the project. The longest-serving before him was James Lee Woodard of Dallas, who was released last year after spending more than 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
As Bain walked out of the Polk County courthouse Thursday, wearing a black T-shirt that said “not guilty,” he spoke of his deep faith and said he does not harbor any anger.
“No, I’m not angry,” he said. “Because I’ve got God.”
The 54-year-old said he looks forward to eating fried turkey and drinking Dr Pepper. He said he also hopes to go back to school.
Friends and family surrounded him as he left the courthouse after Judge James Yancey ordered him freed. His 77-year-old mother, who is in poor health, preferred to wait for him at home. With a broad smile, he said he looks forward to spending time with her and the rest of his family.
Bain was convicted largely on the strength of the victim’s eyewitness identification, though testing available at the time did not definitively link him to the crime.
The boy said his attacker had bushy sideburns and a mustache. The boy’s uncle, a former assistant principal at a high school, said it sounded like Bain, a former student.
The boy picked Bain out of a photo lineup, although there are lingering questions about whether detectives steered him.
The jury rejected Bain’s story that he was home watching TV with his twin sister when the crime was committed, an alibi she repeated at a news conference last week. He was 19 when he was sentenced.
Florida last year passed a law that automatically grants former inmates found innocent $50,000 for each year they spent in prison. No legislative approval is needed.
That means James Bain is entitled to $1.75 million for his wrongful 35 years in prison.
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Tags: dna, dna evidence, james bain, Man Exonerated After 35 Years
February 9th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Pretty scary stuff…