STAR/TRIBUNE
By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press
DALLAS - A Texas man declared innocent Tuesday after 30 years in prison had at least two chances to make parole and be set free -- if only he would admit he was a sex offender.
But Cornelius Dupree Jr. refused to do so, doggedly maintaining his innocence in a 1979 rape and robbery, and in the process serving more time for a crime he didn't commit than any other Texas inmate exonerated by DNA evidence.
"Whatever your truth is, you have to stick with it," Dupree, 51, said Tuesday, after a Dallas judge overturned his conviction.
Nationally, only two others exonerated by DNA evidence spent more time in prison, according to the Innocence Project, a New York legal center that specializes in wrongful conviction cases and represented Dupree. James Bain was wrongly imprisoned for 35 years in Florida, and Lawrence McKinney spent more than 31 years in a Tennessee prison.
Dupree was sentenced to 75 years in prison in 1980 for the rape and robbery of a 26-year-old Dallas woman a year earlier. He was released in July on mandatory supervision, and lived under house arrest until October. About a week after his release, DNA test results came back proving his innocence in the sexual assault.
A day after his release, Dupree married his fiancée, Selma. The couple met two decades ago while he was in prison.
His exoneration hearing was delayed until Tuesday while authorities retested the DNA. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins supported Dupree's innocence claim.
Looking fit and trim in a dark suit, Dupree stood through most of the short hearing until state District Judge Don Adams told him, "You're free to go." One of Dupree's lawyers, Innocence Project co-director Barry Scheck, called it "a glorious day." "It's a joy to be free again," Dupree said.
This latest wait was nothing for Dupree, who was up for parole as recently as 2004. He was set to be released and thought he was going home, until he learned he first would have to attend a sex offender treatment program.
Those in the program had to go through what is known as the "four R's." They are recognition, remorse, restitution and resolution, said Jim Shoemaker, who served two years with Dupree in the Boyd Unit, south of Dallas.
"He couldn't get past the first part," said Shoemaker, who drove up from Houston to attend Dupree's hearing.
Shoemaker said he spent years talking to Dupree in the prison recreation yard, and always believed his innocence.
"I got a lot of flak from the guys on the block," Shoemaker said. "But I always believed him. He has a quiet, peaceful demeanor."
Under Texas compensation laws for the wrongly imprisoned, Dupree is eligible for $80,000 for each year he was behind bars, plus a lifetime annuity. He could receive $2.4 million in a lump sum that is not subject to federal income tax.
I think this guy should go after the court system. He spent 30 years of his life in prison. He has been granted 80k which i think is nothing. No amount of money is worth 30 years in prison. On the up side hopefully with the help of this DNA stuff it will prevent this from happening again.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that it is right for a man to be convicted of a crime he did not commit. He should have been innocent until proven guilty. Not guilty until proven innocent. I agree with Cody. No sum of money is worth spending half of his life in prison.
ReplyDeleteJust because they are willing to pay him for the years he spent in jail, no money can make up for the years he missed. He missed the best years of his life. They should have spent more time on the case instead of falsely accusing him of a crime that he didn't do. And he shouldn't be made to attend a treatment program when he didn't do anything in the first place. The court system was totally wrong.
ReplyDeleteI had known this kind of cases before, because it happans in China, too. I think there is nothing could save time. How many 30 years can one person have? Every minute, every second is valuable. Well, although the money can never pull the time back, it's better than having nothing after the man's set free. Here is an example for people to care and think about, to warn the people who work in the court to be more cautious and responsible. Also, the system should be changed a bit, too.
ReplyDeleteThere is a law that states that the defendent of a case can be convicted if the court is convinced beyond resonable doubt of his or her guilt. Therefore I think the court did all it could because they didn't have the technology we have today. Sure they can't give his 30 years back, but the government did give him a ton of money so he can do whatever he wants with the rest of his life(cody that was 80k per year in prison). I do think they should not have forced him to go to that program after they knew he didn't do it because that makes no sense. Overall, though, I think the government did a pretty good job.
ReplyDeleteThis is ridiculous. This all could of been prevented, but of course people were too quick to point fingers and not see what was right in front of them. This happening once is way to often. Sure, people make mistakes, but no one should make the mistake of putting an innocent man in jail for something he did not do.
ReplyDeleteI was very upset when I heard about this! Yes, getting money almost every month is a great thing, but paying someone with money for something they didn't even do it just ridiculous! It seems like now days nobody has the chance to stick up for what happened and what Lyndsy said, people were too quick to point fingers. I'm sure if this happened to the people that accused him they would be angry for something they didn't even do. It just rattles me: 30 years in jail and then "Oh yeah, we just found out you didn't do a thing. Your free to go." Really?! You can't replace 30 years of someone's life! During these years he could've got married, had a family be succesful in life. But no, some people these days are just well, in nicer words: DUMB.
ReplyDeleteI think that the state should pay everything that the guy wanted, because he lost 30 years of his life! Plus, he should have the right where he wouldn`t have to pay taxes!!! Because certainly, his family didn`t have so much money while he was in prison! So that would be a way of paying the money that he "lost" while he was in prison!
ReplyDeleteI think that those 30 years that man was in jail was big, because those 30 years are normally the time of your life. No money can get back those years he spent in jail. Even if he they didn't have the technology we had to day the could have looked at the case when knew technology was invented.
ReplyDeleteI think it was completely unfair for this man to spend 30 years of his life in prison especially since he wasn't even proven guilty. You only live once and this man is never going to get those years back. Yeah, the money would be really nice but is that really enough to make up for all those lost years? I agree with Joao that the state should pay for what he wanted and he shouldn't have to pay taxes. He shouldn't have been put in jail in the first place since he wasn't proven guilty.
ReplyDeleteIm with most on this. No amount of money can make up for the years he lost in prison, but maybe now with the advances in technology we can hopefully prevent things like this from happening again to someone else. On the bright side at least he gets something.
ReplyDeletehe should not have been proven guilty without all the facts. and i am going to agree with everybody else when they said that it doesnt matter how much money they give him it is still not enought. what happened is wrong and cruel enough said
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ReplyDeleteThis situation was extremely unfortunat, but I don't see how any legal action from the exhonerated man against the state would be a good idea. The only way to move past it is to try to move on.
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