Texas releases innocent man after 30 years in jail

AFTER spending more than 30 years in a Texas prison for a crime he did not commit, Cornelius Dupree Jr became a free man when his conviction was overturned.

Dupree, sentenced to 75 years for kidnapping, rape and robbery, had his conviction reversed in a Dallas courtroom on Tuesday when Judge Don Adams declared him “free to go”.

Dupree, 51, who had been released from jail on parole last year, is one of 265 people in the US exonerated in recent years through the development of DNA tests of evidence.