Innocent man freed after 23 years

DNA Evidence Helps Release Man After 23 Years in Prison
Ernest Sonnier is released from prison after he was falsely accused of a crime
Steve Simon KIAH
August 7, 2009


DNA evidence helps release man after 23 years in prison

After 23 years, roughly 8,000 days and nights in prison, Ernest Sonnier is home with family. DNA tests show he may not have committed a rape and abduction from December 1985.

Three hours after a hearing with State district Judge Michael McSpadden, Sonnier, 46, walked into the arms of his family at the Harris County Jail.

The Innocence Project, a national organization working to exonerate wrongfully convicted people, began conducting new tests last year that cast doubt on his guilt, attorneys said.

Sonnier was released on his own recognizance. He will wear a GPS monitoring device and be supervised as a condition of his release while attorneys move to have him officially exonerated.

With his mother and aunt at his side, Sonnier said he worried that he would never see his mother again.

"In jail everyone tells the same story but I told everyone I was innocent," he said. "The evidence was on the table that I wasn't the guy."
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DNA Evidence Helps Release Man After 23 Years in Prison

Evidence frees 23-year inmate 2:10
DNA evidence proves an inmate of 23 years did not commit the crime he was convicted of. KIAH's Steve Simon reports.