Judge exonerates wrongfully convicted man who died in prison.
Wired PR News.com — An Austin, Texas Judge has decided to clear a man wrongfully convicted of rape, who died in prison approximately 10 years ago, as reported by the Associated Press.
As noted in the report, Timothy Cole was arrested and convicted of raping a Texas Tech Student in 1985. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. After serving 14 years, Cole died at the age of 39 of complications from asthma. Cole and his family maintained his innocence throughout the years but it was not until The Innocence Project of Texas, a non-profit organization dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions, worked to exonerate Cole. After testing the DNA from the original rape kit, the results pointed to another man, Jerry Wayne Johnson who was serving time in prison for other rapes.
Johnson testified in court Friday that he committed the rape and asked for forgiveness from the Cole family a well as the rape victim. Johnson is quoted as stating “I’m responsible for all this. I’m truly sorry for my pathetic behavior and selfishness. I hope and pray you will forgive me.” Michele Mallin, the rape victim in the case, has come forward and allowed her name to be publicly released in order to help clear Coles name. Mallin picked Cole from a lineup in 1985.
Cole’s family is calling for Gov. Rick Perry to issue a formal pardon.
