by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
Cornelius Dupree was sent to prison in 1979 on charges of rape and robbery. After doing over 30 years in prison, he has finally been set free by the Innocence Project. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins is also arguing that Dupree "did not commit this crime" and that he should be freed.
If Dupree is freed, he will have served more time in Texas prison than any other innocent person in the history of the state. There are only two others in the country who have served more time and been exonerated, according to the Innocence Project.
"Cornelius Dupree spent the prime of his life behind bars because of mistaken identification that probably would have been avoided if the best practices now used in Dallas had been employed," said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project. "Let us never forget that, as in the heartbreaking case of Cornelius Dupree, a staggering 75% of wrongful convictions of people later cleared by DNA evidence resulted from misidentifications."
