HOUSTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry Friday pardoned a Houston man who was exonerated after spending more than four years in prison.
Josiah Sutton, 22, was freed from prison last year after new DNA tests excluded him in a 1998 rape case but he's been awaiting the pardon so he can resume a normal life.
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously recommended the pardon to the governor this week.
"The trial court recently determined that there was 'clear and convincing evidence' that Sutton could not have committed the rape for which he was convicted," Perry said. "While this action does not make up for the four years that Mr. Sutton was wrongfully imprisoned, it helps right that wrong."
Sutton was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison based on DNA tests processed by the troubled Houston Police crime lab. His case was one of many retested last year after discrepancies were found in the laboratory's work.
