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| DNA Review Helps Exonerate Minn. Man |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 11/25/2002 |
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A man convicted of rape nearly 20 years ago was exonerated by DNA testing after prosecutors took another look at more than 100 violent crime convictions. It is believed to be the first time a person has been cleared by DNA tests initiated by prosecutors rather than by a defendant's appeals. 'We searched for the truth, and we found it,' Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said recently. 'It is very regrettable that the wrong person was convicted of a crime. I am grateful that his innocence has now been established.' David Brian Sutherlin, 40, is serving a life sentence for a double murder committed while he was out on bail on the 1985 rape charge, and won't be eligible for parole until at least 2005, Gaertner said. But the exoneration means he'll spend less time in prison, though he still needs to serve 20-25 years on the murder convictions, she said. Judge J. Thomas Mott absolved Sutherlin of the rape conviction at a hearing last Wednesday. Sutherlin did not immediately return a phone call for comment left at the Lino Lakes Correctional Facility. Gaertner said semen on the rape victim's clothing matched the DNA profile of another man who was released from prison in July after serving 4 1/2 years for aggravated robbery. The man can't be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has run out, but Gaertner hopes he'll have to register as a sex offender through court or legislative action. His name was not released. Ramsey County looked at 116 cases as part of a project it started in March 2001, and only Sutherlin's case led to DNA testing, Gaertner said. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tested semen found on the rape victim's clothing and reported on Oct. 14 that the sample did not match Sutherlin's DNA profile. Gaertner said those results, combined with other evidence, clearly establish that Sutherlin did not commit the rape. DNA testing was not available when Sutherlin was convicted of rape. Other convictions have been overturned after DNA testing, but usually at the urging of defense attorneys or activists. In initiating the broad review of cases, Gaertner said she believed DNA testing should be applied systematically to past convictions. |
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