Texas Man Walks Free After Serving 27 Years for Rape He Didn’t Commit
HOUSTON — A judge has ordered that a Houston man who has spent the last 27 years imprisoned for a rape he didn’t commit be freed on bond.
During a court hearing Friday, Michael Anthony Green was granted a $500 bond that will let him walk out of jail.
Green was expected to be released later Friday after his paperwork had been processed.
His pending release was made possible after the Harris County District Attorney’s Office reopened his case. New DNA tests it commissioned showed he did not commit a 1983 rape of a woman who had been abducted.
Green’s release had been set for Thursday, but was delayed a day after he become too emotional and angry while waiting in a holding cell for his court hearing.
This is similar to the case of Timothy Cole, who convicted of rape in Lubbock in 1985. He was eventually exonerated by DNA and received a full pardon earlier this year. It was too late though: Tim Cole died in prison in 1999. The real rapist had confessed 4 years earlier but the system completely ignored him until Cole’s family finally learned of the confession.