We feel also relieved for Charles Chatman, after all he is an innocent person:
#Tags: charles chatman, dna testing, rape, crime, woman Picture found on the internetDALLAS (AP)-- Charles Chatman said throughout his 26 years in prison that he never raped the woman who lived five houses down from him.
Now 47, Chatman won his freedom Thursday after new DNA testing that lawyers say proves his innocence and adds to Dallas County's nationally unmatched number of wrongfully convicted inmates.
"I'm bitter. I'm angry," Chatman told The Associated Press during his last night in jail Wednesday. "But I'm not angry or bitter to the point where I want to hurt anyone or get revenge."
On Thursday, a judge recommended overturning his 1981 aggravated sexual assault conviction. With several of his eight siblings cheering his release, Chatman was released on his own recognizance.
He became the 15th inmate from Dallas County since 2001 to be freed by DNA testing, and after nearly 27 years he served more time than any of the other inmates.
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Chatman was 20 when the victim, a young woman in her 20s, picked him from a lineup. Chatman said he lived five houses down from the victim for 13 years but never knew her.
At the time the woman was assaulted, Chatman said he didn't have any front teeth; he had been certain that feature would set him apart from the real assailant.
"I'm not sure why he ended up on that photo spread to begin with," Ware said.
Chatman, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 1981 and sentenced to 99 years in prison, credited his faith for not extinguishing his hope for an exoneration after more than a quarter-century in prison.
"I want this situation addressed," Chatman said. "But I don't have the anger that I used to."
Dallas County public defender Michelle Moore said Chatman applied for DNA testing in 2004 but was told the process could be risky. The only evidence containing DNA was from a vaginal swab of the victim, Moore said, and a single test would consume the entire sample. An inconclusive test would exhaust all evidence.
Chatman was again warned of the gamble when he reapplied for testing early last year.
"This is a guy who's had to face horrible decisions," Moore said.