A man was released from prison after finally being exonerated for a rape case that led to him spending 25 years behind bars.
William Barnhouse, the mentally disabled man who was falsely convicted, said, “(i)t was rough. I was always innocent. I’m glad it’s finally over. I feel so happy.”
The case occurred in 1992, when a rape victim falsely identified him as an assailant. Courts moved quickly to convict him based on shaky “evidence” of a hair sample.
Later, Barnhouse got in contact with the Innocence Project, a group which tries to exonerate innocent people in prison for crimes they didn’t commit.
Further DNA testing, initiated by the group, along with the Indiana University McKinney, found that Barnhouse could not have been the source of sperm samples recovered from the victim.
His conviction was overturned on March 8, and last week, his indictment was dismissed.
Barnhouse can now move on with his life, as a free man.