Another Dallas County DA prosecuted case overturned by DNA

[RB TexLa]

Former convict, cleared by DNA test, walks out of Dallas court a free man

06:48 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 5, 2008

By DIANE JENNINGS / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

Steven Charles Phillips walked into a Dallas courtroom this morning as a registered sex offender and 25-year veteran of the Texas prison system. He walked out with a grin and a chance at a new life after being completely cleared of a series of sex crimes in the 1980s.

“What a great day. Today is the day the Lord has made and I am grateful to him,” Mr. Phillips said.

Mr. Phillips, 50, was initially cleared of two charges of sexual assault and burglary of a building last fall after DNA evidence identified another man, who died in a Texas prison 10 years ago. Clearing his name of nine other charges took months because Mr. Phillips had pleaded guilty to them in an attempt to avoid a life sentence.

He is one of 18 men exonerated by DNA evidence in Dallas County since 2001.

Dallas County assistant district attorney Mike Ware, who heads the conviction integrity unit, said though DNA evidence was not available in every rape Mr. Phillips had been accused of, “I don’t have any doubt that he didn’t do these.”

Mr. Phillips fought his convictions for years but made little headway until the Innocence Project championed his cause. Attorney Barry Scheck said the Phillips case was “one of the worst cases of tunnel vision we’ve ever seen. Police seized on Steven Phillips as a suspect and refused to see mounting evidence that someone else actually committed these crimes.”


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080508dnmetexonerate.1906534b.html

[rpannier]

1. A great day for Mr Phillips

If the 'tough on crime' types had their way this guy probably would have been executed 20 years ago

on note: I read up on this story and the judge who refused to approve the DNA testing a few years ago should be removed from the bench and have his license revoked.