DNA Frees man after 24 years in Prison

Alan Crotzer was released from prison after spending 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Alan Crotzers page at CNN.com

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- Alan Crotzer stepped into the warm sunlight outside the courthouse Monday and raised his arms to the sky, celebrating his freedom after more than 24 years behind bars for crimes he didn't commit.

He was sentenced to 130 years in prison after being convicted of armed robbery and rape in 1981.

Crotzer and brothers Douglas James and Corlenzo James were convicted of robbing a Tampa family in 1981. Douglas James and Crotzer were also found guilty of kidnapping and raping a 38-year-old woman and her 12-year-old girl at gunpoint.

DNA has now granted freedom to 172 wrongly convicted inmates since 1989 in 31 different states.

I wonder how many more people have been wrongly convicted before the DNA era. What should these guys be entitled to? Millions of dollars?

How do you put a price tag on a third of your life?

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[edit on 24-1-2006 by UK Wizard]

What concerns me more is not what we owe these innocent men, but what ramifications this has on the Death Penalty. Stories like this make me wonder how many innocent men have been killed by our system.

Originally posted by SKMDC1
What concerns me more is not what we owe these innocent men, but what ramifications this has on the Death Penalty. Stories like this make me wonder how many innocent men have been killed by our system.

This is true, i belive this is why we got rid of Hanging a while ago. After a spate of innocent people put to the death, i was belived to be a unaceptible risk.