2 Men Wrongfully Imprisoned for Rape Exonerated After Accuser Recants Story, Accuser Wont Face Charges

I am totally disgusted at this case, but not surprised. These men were convicted solely off contradictory evidence. Then to add insult to injury, the accuser would not face any charges for the apparent damages she have done. I hope these men sue. Here's the story;

Two men wrongfully imprisoned for a kidnapping and rape they didn’t commit were exonerated on Monday in Supreme Court in New York’s Manhattan. Cumulatively, the men had served decades in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.

VanDyke Perry and Gregory Counts were just 19 and 21 years old, respectively, when they were charged with kidnapping a woman near her home in New York’s Queens borough and raping her. As the New York Times reports, Perry and Counts were convicted of the crime despite investigators having no physical evidence:

Semen recovered from the woman did not match the two accused men. The prosecution’s case relied heavily on her testimony, which was inconsistent. The defense argued the woman, a recovering crack addict, fabricated the story to protect her boyfriend, who had shot Mr. Perry two months earlier and was wanted by the police, court records show.

Twenty-six years later, both men are finally free after two major revelations. First, a 2015 test revealed that DNA recovered from the woman matched the profile of a man who died in 2011. Then, the final blow: Two weeks ago, the woman who accused Perry, Counts and a third man of rape recanted her story, admitting the rape “never happened.”

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. personally recommended their verdicts be thrown out. Supreme Court Justice Mark Dwyer formally dismissed the case on Monday and “wished [Perry and Counts] luck in front of a packed courtroom,”according to the New York Daily News.

 Counts broke down in tears as he entered the courtroom, reports the Times. He had served 26 years for the crime, and during solitary confinement, reached out to the Innocence Project to help with his case.

“I can’t be angry,” Counts said of his accuser, who remains unnamed. “If I waste a minute being angry it’s a waste of time. That’s a minute I could have been happy.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office won’t pursue charges against the woman who falsely accused Counts and Perry, citing the statute of limitations on the case, reports NBC 4 News.

“This wrongful conviction destroyed my life,” said Perry, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 11 years. He wiped away tears. “But I never gave up my fight.”

While this story ended with a happy ending we cannot forget the unknown other innocent men who remain behind prison bars for various types of crimes they didn't commit. We also cannot forget the jury who convicted these men who were told to "follow the law" and to convict if they have no "reasonable doubt" and by there being literally no physical evidence and the accuser testimony contradicting, the jury somehow was still able to convict these two innocent men. This is very dangerous, especially for black men.