NEW YORK, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A New York inmate has been released from prison after 21 years now that new DNA tests show he did not commit a 1983 rape.
Scott Fappiano, 44, walked out of a Brooklyn courthouse Friday after his 50-year sentence was vacated by a judge on the basis of the new testing, The New York Times said.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes called Fappiano's conviction a "tragedy," and police officials announced they would explore new systems for the storage and handling of DNA evidence.
Fappiano was convicted in 1985 of raping the wife of a police officer in their Brooklyn apartment. The husband was tied up by the gun-wielding intruder.
Fappiano was picked out of a lineup by the victim, but not by her husband, the Times said. Initial DNA tests in the late 1980s were not sophisticated enough to determine whether or not Fappiano was the culprit.
The latest testing was performed largely by accident after some of the biological evidence that had been lost for years turned up in a Connecticut warehouse where it had been stored since the original testing lab changed ownership.
Years ago, Fappiano rejected a deal offering parole for an admission of guilt.
