DALLAS, April 20 (UPI) -- A Texas man is waiting for the state to clear his name more than a year after a new DNA test freed him from prison.
Josiah Sutton was released March 12, 2003 after it was discovered Houston police had botched his original DNA test. He was excluded as a suspect in the 1998 rape of a Houston woman but he is still struggling to win a pardon.
His lawyer, David Dow, a professor of law at the University of Houston, said a ruling by a judge last week might finally win the pardon his client is seeking. The judge ruled Sutton should be released because the first DNA test was botched.
Sutton is now pursuing two avenues. He is asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to vacate his conviction or the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend a pardon to Gov. Rick Perry. The pardon board may act more quickly.
Dow said in the past the board said it needed consent from the prosecutor, police and judge to in order to grant a pardon based on innocence, but the panel now seems open to recommending the pardon on only the judge's order.
