Judge Orders Man Freed From Prison
Associated Press
A man imprisoned for 14 years for rape emerged from a corrections center a free man Tuesday after DNA tests showed he did not commit the crime.
Tulsa County District Judge Linda Morrisey signed an order requiring Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington to release Arvin McGee Jr., who was convicted of the 1987 rape of a Tulsa woman.
Tulsa County assistant district attorney Steve Sewell and McGee's attorney, Julie Gardner, asked for his release.
'Justice requires Mr. McGee's immediate release from prison,' Sewell said before the court hearing.
McGee, 39, who was serving a 298-year sentence, told reporters outside the prison that he had no bitter feelings toward the rape victim, but was angry at a criminal justice system that kept him behind bars for 14 years.
'The system let me down, let my people down, let my son down and let my pops down,' said McGee, who at times choked back tears.
Lawyers with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System had a lab test a semen slide from the case. The test showed the semen did not match McGee's DNA.
DNA testing was not available when McGee was tried.
Further DNA testing of evidence in the rape kit used at trial backed up the lab's finding, prompting prosecutors to agree to his release.
McGee was convicted of a 1987 rape of a 20-year-old Tulsa woman, who said a man grabbed her from behind at the coin-operated laundry where she worked, locked her in a restroom and tied her up.
The man carried her out of the building over his shoulder, drove her to a secluded place and sexually assaulted her, the victim told police.
At photo lineups two months after the attack, the victim initially picked another man as her attacker. Two months later, she took '10 to 15 minutes' to pick out McGee as the assailant, Gardner said.
McGee's 1988 conviction was thrown out, and a second trial ended in a hung jury. He was convicted at his third trial.
DNA testing has exonerated seven Oklahoma inmates and 101 inmates nationwide.
McGee's case was not connected to testimony by former Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist, whose forensic work is the subject of state and federal investigations. She has been accused by the FBI of doing shoddy work and testifying beyond her expertise. Authorities have been reviewing hundreds of cases on which she worked.
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