Ill. gov pardons first man cleared by DNA

CHICAGO, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Illinois Gov. George Ryan Friday pardoned Gary Dotson, who was wrongly convicted for the 1977 rape and kidnapping of a woman who later admitted she made the whole thing up.

Dotson was freed in 1985 after serving eight years in prison after then-Gov. Jim Thompson held days of televised hearings during which Cathleen Crowell Webb admitted she made up the story to keep her parents from learning she had sex with her boyfriend. At the time of the alleged rape, she was just 16 and afraid she was pregnant.

In commuting Dotson's sentence, however, Thompson, a former federal prosecutor, said he was not convinced Dotson actually was innocent.

In 1989, DNA tests showed Webb had had sexual intercourse with her boyfriend. It was the first time in the United States DNA evidence had exonerated someone who had been convicted.

Dotson first sought a pardon in October to highlight the plight of those who had been wrongly convicted.

"We certainly have always expected the governor would grant that pardon, given the fact it's such an obvious case," Dotson attorney, Northwestern University law professor Lawrence Marshall, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ryan noted at the time of the Thompson hearings, DNA technology was not available, "so he (Dotson) was never pardoned. Now we have DNA evidence that proves Gary is innocent. We're going to clear Gary's name once and for all."

Ryan said there's nothing "courageous" in his actions.

"It was really the only thing we could do. It was the right thing to do," he said. Ryan's decision clears Dotson's record and makes him eligible for compensation from the Illinois Court of Claims for wrongful imprisonment.