Oct 16, 2008 7:12 pm US/Eastern
Man Freed After 21 Years Thanks To DNA Evidence
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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James Owens, who was convicted of taking part in a 1987 rape and murder, has been ordered freed after DNA evidence caused the case against him to unravel.
CBS
A Maryland inmate is released from prison after 20 years behind bars.
Suzanne Collins reports DNA tests link someone else to the crime.
James Owens' lawyer says he has insisted he was innocent since the beginning.
James Owens has been serving life without parole for murder and rape since 1987. The victim, Colleen Williar, was found naked in her Dundalk home. She had been stabbed multiple times.
DNA tests, not available then but done more recently, show someone else's body fluids on the victim.
"And I said to him, you're going home today. He just looked at me and said thank you. He shook his head, looked at the floor, his face was red," said lawyer Steve Mercer.
Owens was released from a Jessup prison Wednesday night. His lawyer says the case has a lot in common with others overturned by DNA tests.
He says the case was based on unreliable witnesses, like jailhouse snitches rather than forensic evidence. Owens' lawyer says his client always professed his innocence.
"He was very clear he had nothing to do with this case, nothing to do with this crime, had no idea about who did it, and he would never take a plea bargain," said Mercer.
When the DNA tests were first released, the victim's stepmother still thought Owens and co-defendant James Thompson were guilty.
"And then after 20 years, just because they didn't rape her, it doesn't mean they never killed her. This is what I don't understand. Why they would let him go," said Barbara Williar.
James Owens is the seventh Maryland inmate to be freed after new DNA tests. He plans to rest at his sister's home and possibly soon speak to reporters about his terrible experience.
Co-defendant James Thompson is also seeking to have a new trial since the DNA evidence didn't link him to the rape either.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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