(April 16, 2008)--A 49-year-old Texas man who spent nearly 23 years in prison for a rape he did not commit was been set free after a court hearing Wednesday in Dallas.
A judge on Wednesday overturned the burglary and rape convictions of Thomas Clifford McGowan, who was convicted in separate trials in 1985 and 1986.
He was serving a life sentence.
A DNA test earlier this month showed that McGowan was not the source of the male DNA collected as part of a rape kit in May 1985.
Lawyers say the victim convicted him largely on eyewitness misidentification.
McGowan is the 17th Dallas man since 2001 to have his conviction cast aside because of DNA testing.
That's the most of any county in the nation.