RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A North Carolina appeals court reversed a conviction of a man serving a 60-year prison sentence for burglary, ruling that the state waited too long to try him.
Frankie Delano Washington, 47, was arrested in 2002 and charged with a home invasion in Durham. N.C. The charges involved a masked, shotgun-wielding man who entered a house with two adults and two children inside. The perpetrator attempted rape and stole $150.
Washington was convicted in 2007 partly because of delays in DNA tests. In the end, DNA found at the crime scene didn't match his, The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, N.C., reported.
A three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that Washington's ability to challenge the evidence was hampered by the long gap between arrest and trial, the newspaper said. The judges also said that the state was entirely to blame, finding that trial could have been much sooner if "the state had exercised even the slightest care during the course of this prosecution."
Unless the state challenges the ruling within 20 days, Washington will be freed, The News & Observer said.
