BATON ROUGE, La., Dec. 5 (UPI) -- DNA tests may exonerate a Louisiana convict who has served 16 years of a life sentence for the rape of a 13-year-old girl.
Gene Bibbens has insisted that he is innocent. Bibbens may walk through the gates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary a free man Friday.
A DNA test conducted last month under a new Louisiana law indicated that Bibbens was not the rapist, but prosecutors are awaiting results of a second test to make sure there was no mistake.
Assistant District Attorney Sue Bernie, who prosecuted the case in East Baton Rouge Parish, said a decision on Bibbens' release will be announced when the results of the second test are received.
"I certainly don't want to keep an innocent man in jail," she told the Baton Rouge Advocate. "I also want to make sure we do what we need to do to make sure the testing is reliable."
The New York City-based Innocence Project has pushed the DNA testing in the Bibbens case.
"It's not him, and they have to let him go," said Barry Scheck, co-founder of the project. "This is a no-brainer."
Defense attorney Laurie White asked a judge to reverse the conviction, dismiss the charge against Bibbens and release him.
A jury took less than an hour to convict Bibbens in 1987 after hearing police reports and testimony that pointed to him as the rapist of the girl who was assaulted at her aunt's home.
Although the victim identified Bibbens, defense attorneys believed a key to his wrongful conviction was a stolen radio found in his possession. The radio had been taken from the room where the girl was raped, but Bibbens said he found it behind the building.
Scheck contends that police showed the stolen radio to the rape victim before they asked her to identify the suspect. He believes the identification of Bibbens was based more on the radio than his physical appearance.
Bibbens was sentenced to life in prison for aggravated rape and 30 years for aggravated burglary.
The tests are the first under a Louisiana law that permits convicts who believe they were wrongly convicted to ask a judge to order tests. Similar laws have been passed in Texas and other states.
