2 Black Men Exonerated After 26 Years Served For Rape That Admittedly “Never Happened”

blogged by @theRealAlexisDanielle⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

After serving a combined 37 years in prison for a crime they did not commit, two men have been exonerated.

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Gregory Counts and VanDyke Perry were convicted on four counts of first-degree rape, three counts of first-degree sodomy, and kidnapping in 1992. The men were 19 and 21 at the time.

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The charges, which also included criminal possession of a weapon, stemmed from a case in which a woman claimed to be raped by three black men near her home in Queens. According to legal documents, the woman claimed that she was kidnapped at knifepoint. The third alleged suspect was never found.

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During the trial, no physical evidence was available for use. Semen recovered from the woman was tested and found to belong to a man other than the men accused. Still, Counts and Perry were found guilty based solely on a tearful, inconsistent testimony from the complainant.

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Now, almost 30 years later, the woman has admitted to investigators that the men were actually innocent and that the rape and kidnapping “never happened.” The woman’s admission comes after a 2017 launch into a reinvestigation of the case.

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Perry and Counts reportedly never gave up on their cases, reading books and applying for countless appeals. Perry was released in 2001 and Counts was released in August of 2017.

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According to the co-founder of the Innocence Project, an organization that uses DNA testing to exonerate prisoners who have been wrongly accused, this case is a reflection of race and other factors of the time.

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“This was a particularly dark time in New York City during the crack epidemic. At this point in time in New York City, people were scared of teenagers who looked like my clients,” Barry Scheck said.

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During the trial, it was argued that the woman who accused the men was a recovering crack addict and was using the crime to cover for an incident in which her boyfriend was wanted for previously shooting Perry.

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Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. says this case is a tragedy, “for everyone involved.”

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“It is every district attorney’s nightmare that any innocent man or woman would go to jail,” Vance continued.

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While it may be a “nightmare” for some, it is a reality for many. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 2,210 people have been exonerated since 1989 after spending time in prison for a crime they did not commit.