DNA clears guy who was convicted of rape 47 years ago

After nearly five decades, a man from New York has been proven innocent using new DNA tests. The tests confirmed that he was not the one who committed a rape in 1975.

This is the most extended case where someone was wrongly convicted in US history, but later proven innocent by DNA evidence.

The person who actually did the crime, a person who has been found guilty of sexually harming others, has admitted to raping someone.

Leonard Mack, who is now 72 years old, was wrongly sent to prison for more than seven years starting in 1976. He was convicted for a crime he did not commit.

MrMack said, “I always believed that someday I would be shown that I did not do anything wrong. ”

In May 1975, two young girls were going back to their house after school in a mostly white town called Greenburgh, New York. Suddenly, a man approached them and threatened them with a gun.

One of the girls was sexually assaulted two times while the other was able to get away and seek assistance.

The Greenburgh Police Department sent out a message to their officers to be alert and search for a young black man in his early twenties.

Soon after the attack, the police stopped Mr. Mack, who was driving in the neighborhood by chance.

MrMack was arrested by the police even though he had a good reason for not being at the scene of the crime and was wearing different clothes than the person they were looking for.

The Westchester County District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit and the Innocence Project worked together to test DNA evidence for a rape case in 2022. The Innocence Project is a nonprofit organization that helps prove the innocence of those wrongly convicted.

It turned out that the real person who committed the crime was a man who had been found guilty of breaking into someone’s home and sexually assaulting them in Queens a few weeks after this incident.

The man was found guilty in 2004 for breaking into someone’s house and sexually attacking a woman in Westchester County.

District attorney Miriam E. Rocah said in a statement that this proof of innocence shows that when people are wrongly found guilty, it harms not only them but also puts everyone in danger.

MsRocah said that Mr. Mack showed great determination and never gave up in trying to prove that he was innocent for almost five decades.

According to the Innocence Project, the main reason why people are wrongly convicted is because witnesses mistakenly identify the wrong person. In this situation, the girls recognized Mr. Mack because of a mistake in how the police identified him.

The organization also mentioned that prejudice based on race and having a narrow focus were reasons for what happened to Mr.

MrMack, who fought in the Vietnam War, has been living in South Carolina for almost 21 years with his wife.

“Now I know the truth and I can finally relax. ” He said, “I am no longer restricted or confined. ”