Johnnie Earl Lindsey is a free man.
The wrongfully convicted rapist walked out of a Dallas courtroom this morning, nearly 26 years after a jury convicted him based on erroneous, eye witness identification.
A jury convicted Mr. Lindsey, now 56, of sexually assaulting a woman near White Rock Lake in 1981. DNA tests proved that he was not the man responsible.
After thanking state District Judge Larry Mitchell and his attorney Michelle Moore, Mr. Lindsey turned to the crowd in the courtroom and was introduced to his son, Johnnie "Jay" Cooper. Mr. Cooper, 27, was barely 1 when his father went to prison.
Sitting in the back corner of the courtroom, Mr. Cooper did not speak. Tears ran down his face as he looked at the stranger he's been told is his father.
Mr. Lindsey went to him, hugged him and whispered, "It's going to be alright."
Mr. Lindsey became the 19th man cleared by DNA testing in Dallas County since 2001, when the Legislature began allowing post-conviction DNA testing.