Timothy Cole was convicted for the 1985 rape of a 20-year-old student Michele Mallin and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The victim had picked Cole from a selection of photos presented by police, and then again from a police lineup.
This week a Texas district court judge reversed that conviction, based on DNA evidence and on a confession from another inmate.
Unfortunately, Cole was already dead. He died in prison in 1999.
The real rapist, Jerry Johnson, has been in prison since 1985, serving one life sentence for raping a 15-year-old girl, and a 99-year sentence for another rape. He won’t be charged with raping Mallin; the statute of limitations has already expired.