DNA evidence helps exonerate man wrongfully convicted of rape almost 50 years ago
White Plains, New York - New DNA testing in the case of Leonard Mack confirmed he did not commit the rape he was wrongfully convicted of in 1975, leading to his exoneration Tuesday.
In an emotional hearing held on his 72nd birthday, Leonard Mack was exonerated almost five decades after he was wrongly convicted of raping a teenage girl in Westchester County, New York in 1975.
According to the Innocence Project, no other wrongful conviction has taken as long as Leonard's to be reversed by new DNA testing.
Supreme Court Justice Anne Minihan, who vacated Mack's conviction, left the bench to shake his hand and hug him, as USA Today reported.
DNA testing not only confirmed that he had not committed the assault, but it also identified the actual perpetrator.
Mack said: "I want to first thank God for this day. Next, I want to thank the Innocence Project. Today has been a long time coming. I lost seven-and-a-half years of my life in prison for a crime I did not commit and I have lived with this injustice hanging over my head for almost 50 years."
"It changed the course of my life – everything from where I lived to my relationship with my family. I never lost hope that one day that I would be proven innocent. Now the truth has come to light and I can finally breathe. I am finally free."
"Tunnel vision and racial bias": How Mack was wrongfully convicted
A Vietnam War veteran, Mack was wrongfully convicted of rape and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, based solely on the witness description of a Black man with an earring and hat.
Susan Friedman, one of his lawyers from the Innocence Project, told USA Today that Leonard's case can be considered a "powerful example of how tunnel vision and racial bias can lead to a wrongful conviction."
While behind bars, Leonard challenged his convictions multiple times to no avail. After his release, he lived for another 41 years with the injustice hanging over his head.
"Today, indisputable DNA evidence proves that Leonard Mack is innocent. Nearly five decades later, he finally has some measure of justice," said Mary-Kathryn Smith, one of Mr. Mack's Innocence Project attorneys.
Cover photo: IMAGO / USA TODAY Network