DALLAS, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A judge has released a deaf Texas man imprisoned for years for a sexual crime after exonerating him based on new evidence, authorities said.
Stephen Brodie, 39, was convicted in 1993 of the 1990 sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl based on his confession rather than physical evidence, CNN reported.
But evidence -- a fingerprint at the crime scene from a different man who has since been convicted of a sexual crime against an underage teen, and a hair found on the girl's blanket that did not match Brodie or anyone in the girl's family -- emerged, leading to Brodie's exoneration Monday by State District Judge Lena Levario.
It is unclear whether prosecutors knew about the print match and hair at the time and did not tell Brodie's attorney.
Information that could benefit a defendant is legally required to be handed over following a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Brady vs. Maryland.
Brodie has served his sentence for the sex crime but was convicted in Lamar Country for failing to register as a sex offender.
Lamar County District Attorney Gary Young said he would ask a judge to overturn that conviction.
