A Massachusetts judge vacated Tyrone Clark's 1974 rape conviction after the commonwealth failed to preserve evidence and the victim in the case, unsolicited, raised serious doubts about her identification of the defendant, according to a news release from the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.
Clark, who was released from prison Wednesday, is"absolutely thrilled" about the decision, his attorney Jeffrey Harris told CNN."He's been arguing for 50 years that he got an unfair trial -- the court agreed with him. This is in no small part due to an amazing person who came forward and said she might have gotten the wrong guy in 1973," Harris said."We really appreciate the work the DA's office did, the consideration of Judge Roach, and the superior court.
"Both the defendant and this administration have been denied the opportunity to perform modern forensic testing due to the failure of previous administrations to maintain that DNA evidence. The Commonwealth should never benefit from our failures and wrongdoings."Read MoreClark is going to have Thanksgiving with his only living relative, his brother, Harris said."He's going to be out and around family -- that's not nothing," his attorney added.
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