DNA Clears Fla. Man of 1981 Rape, Robbery

[Scooter24]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DNA_EXONERATION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Jan 14, 6:39 AM EST

DNA Clears Fla. Man of 1981 Rape, Robbery

By MITCH STACY
Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A 45-year-old who has spent more than half his life in prison for armed robbery and rape will be freed after DNA evidence created "significant doubt" about his guilt, prosecutors said Friday.

The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office said it would support a defense motion to vacate Alan Crotzer's 1982 convictions and 130-year prison sentence.

"After carefully weighing all available evidence, the State Attorney's Office has concluded that significant doubt exists as to Mr. Crotzer's guilt in this case," the office said in a statement Friday.

Crotzer's attorneys with the Florida Innocence Initiative told him of the development in an afternoon conference call, said Sam Roberts, a Fordham University law student who has worked closely with attorneys on the case. Roberts described Crotzer as "overwhelmed, emotional and overjoyed."

[Poppyseedman]

1. I wonder why it took Douglas James so many years to fess up

A victim picked Crotzer out of a lineup. But Douglas James now says Crotzer is innocent. He said he and his brother were the rapists and a longtime childhood friend was their accomplice.

He should do an additional twenty years for knowingly letting an innocent man stay in prison for so long

[pinerow]

3. What's guy going to do with his life after

he has spent 24 years in jail...what are his marketable skills, what level of education does he have?...My bet is that he will go back to prison for one thing or another...that's all he knows...damned shame.

BTW...went to the Bucs v Washington game...outright theft by the refs...sheesh!

[saigon68]

2. oops sorry -- MOVE ALONG

NOTHING TO SEE HERE


</SARCASM>

[maddezmom]

4. kick

[Up2Late]

5. Florida man freed by DNA after decades in prison (Reuters)

(Lucky for this guy, he didn't get the death sentience, he would most likely already been executed if he had.)

Florida man freed by DNA after decades in prison

Mon Jan 23, 2006 02:39 PM ET

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida man was freed on Monday after spending nearly 24 years -- more than half his life -- in prison for rapes that DNA tests recently showed he did not commit. Alan Crotzer, 45, was convicted in 1982 of raping a 38-year-old Tampa woman and a 12-year-old girl and sentenced to 130 years behind bars.

At a hearing on Monday in Tampa, prosecutors said there was significant doubt about Crotzer's guilt and asked Judge J. Rogers Padgett to set aside the conviction and free Crotzer. "The motion is granted. You are a free man," Padgett told Crotzer.

His lawyers had filed a motion to have the sentence and charges against him dismissed in February 2004, after California forensics expert Edward Blake confirmed that DNA evidence excluded Crotzer as the rapist.

Crotzer, who is black, was convicted by an all-white jury that took only one hour to reach its verdict, according to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a local advocacy group. In a statement it quoted Sam Roberts, a member of Crotzer's volunteer legal defense team, as saying he was a victim of a flawed justice system.

(more at link below)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=10941343&src=rss/domesticNews>

[saigon68]

6. Its amazing how many of these

Nun Rapists, child rapists etc. are black.

Its like the white prosecutors, just LOVE to charge men of color

Edit: spelling

[LisaL]

9. Well, i imagine the actual rapist must have been black as well.

[Nutmegger]

7. At least he wasn't executed

Still, he can't get back the last 24 years of his life. Kind of sad...

[bluestateguy]

8. How much will he be paid?

And the prosecutor who prosecuted him, if he is still alive, should be sued and criminally charged.

Jurors from this case should also be fair game for being sued too, if it can be shown that they were negligent in deliberating the case and handling the evidence,.

Oh, and will he need a pardon from Jeb Bush to be allowed to vote in Florida?

[LisaL]

10. Sure, lets sue the jurors. And when they let go of a guilty person,

should they be sued as well?
:eyes:

[CBGLuthier]

11. here is another article

with a few more details about the crime and the circumstances.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060123/APN/601230754&cachetime=3&template=dateline