DNA test frees Ohio man after 18 years in jail
COLUMBUS, OHIO — A judge freed a man Monday who had spent nearly 18 years in prison on a charge of raping a 10-year-old girl after a lab reexamining cases across Ohio showed that his DNA profile didn’t match evidence from the crime scene.
Robert McClendon, 52, was released by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Charles Schneider, who cited the DNA test.
“You know, you go through times where you feel it might not happen, but you never, ever give up hope,” McClendon said after his release. “You don’t ever use the words ‘never happen.’ It’s not healthy.”
Jennifer Bergeron, a lawyer with the Ohio Innocence Project, said she expected prosecutors to formally drop charges against McClendon in the next two weeks.
“To be in prison for 18 years for something you didn’t do and then know you are going to walk out of court a free man, that’s a lot to take in in one day,” Bergeron said.
Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said he didn’t think there would be a new trial.
McClendon was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
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