"LOST" DNA EVIDENCE SHOWS MAN INNOCENT OF RAPE

A man who spent 23 years in a US prison for rape was freed after DNA evidence proved he did not commit the crime. St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch called the incarceration of Johnny Briscoe a "terrible mistake", one exacerbated by the crime lab's failure to locate evidence when McCulloch first requested a review six years ago.

Briscoe, who is about 54 years old, did not appear at a news conference announcing his freedom. McCulloch said he is expected to speak to the media tomorrow, after spending a day in seclusion with his family.

Briscoe was convicted of breaking into the apartment of a woman in St Louis County in October 1982, then raping her when she awoke. Among evidence left behind by the rapist was a cigarette butt containing his DNA. Recent testing by two labs confirmed the DNA belonged to another man, who is already serving a life term for another rape. That man's name was not released, and McCulloch said he had not decided whether to file charges against him. "(The victim) of course, is very traumatised by this," McCulloch said. "But she takes comfort knowing that the other man is already in prison."

Briscoe is eligible for up to $US36,000 ($48,000) from the state in compensation for each year he was wrongly incarcerated, but he must agree not to file suit.

McCulloch, who did not prosecute the case when it went to court in 1983, said the evidence against Briscoe was strong. The rapist told the victim his name was Johnny Briscoe; the victim and rapist spoke for over an hour in a lighted room, allowing her to give a description. He asked to call on her again and when he did, police traced the call to a pay phone near Briscoe's home. The victim also provided information for a composite sketch that looked like Briscoe and identified him from mug shots from an unrelated earlier burglary.

Briscoe's alibi also fell apart during his trial, McCulloch said. He claimed he spent the night of the rape at a nephew's home watching the seventh game of the 1982 baseball World Series, during which the St Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers to win the championship. "Unfortunately, when he was asked who won the game, he gave the World Series to the Brewers," McCulloch said. "The alibi was gone at that point."

The rapist and the victim shared a cigarette shortly after the rape. The cigarette was taken as evidence. In 2000, with the county then equipped with technology to test DNA evidence that had previously been untestable, McCulloch ordered a review of about 10 old cases in which DNA evidence might confirm or deny guilt. But the crime lab could find none of the old evidence, including that from the 1982 rape, despite repeated requests from McCulloch over the next few years. But during an inventory of the lab in 2004, the cigarette butt was found in a freezer at the lab.

McCulloch was told of the find late last year, and earlier this month, testing at labs in St Louis County and Columbia, Missouri, confirmed the DNA on the cigarette butt belonged to the other man. "Mr Briscoe is absolutely excluded as the donor of the DNA, " McCulloch said. On Tuesday, a St Louis County judge signed an order finding Briscoe innocent. Officials with McCulloch's office drove to the prison in Charleston and picked him up.

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