Another Dallas County Exoneration in the Wings

Another Dallas County Exoneration in the Wings

The Dallas Morning News reports that James Curtis Giles will have a hearing on Monday where he is expected to be exonerated. The News has, "Rape victim is for exoneration."

The victim of a 1982 gang rape has told the Dallas County district attorney's office that she supports efforts to clear a man she helped convict because new evidence causes her to doubt that he was one of her attackers.

At an exoneration hearing Monday, prosecutors will present a recent affidavit taken from the victim. They'll also present an affidavit from her former husband, who identified another man with a similar name as one of her attackers.

Based on the affidavits, prosecutors said they'll join a request by attorneys for James Curtis Giles to have state District Judge Robert Francis find him innocent of the savage sexual assault that sent him to prison for a decade.

His would be the 13th DNA-related exoneration recorded in Dallas County since a state law was adopted in 2001 granting convicted people the right to petition for genetic testing. No other county in the nation has had as many exonerations.

District Attorney Craig Watkins is expected to be in court to offer an apology to Mr. Giles – the third case in which he has done so since taking office in January. He has made the correction of wrongful convictions a priority.

More on earlier exonerations is here.