Robert Dewey (Colorado Dept. of Corrections)

Robert Dewey has spent nearly 20 years behind bars for the 1994 rape and strangling death of a Palisade woman, and he was expected to die in prison.

But on Monday he could walk free based on new DNA evidence.

Attorneys involved in Dewey's case are reluctant to discuss details ahead of the Monday motions hearing, but his case has been taken up by a team at the state Attorney General's Office that reviews old convictions where DNA is involved.

"We were approached by the defense attorney in this case. It's one that we forwarded to our Justice Review Project for DNA testing," said AG spokesman Michael Saccone. "We look to see whether someone is wrongfully incarcerated."

If Dewey, 51, is exonerated, it will be the first for the Justice Review Project since it was created in 2009.

Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger could not be reached immediately for comment.

Nearly two decades ago, Dewey was serving a prison sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm and was scheduled for release in 1995. But before he got out, he was arrested for the June 3, 1994, strangling death of 19-year-old Jacie Taylor.

Prosecutors at the time said he'd been running with a crowd of meth users and had prior convictions for armed robbery and unlawful use of a weapon. Taylor had fallen in with the same crowd.

In the murder case, police found her blood on one of Dewey's work shirts. But his defense attorney at the time argued that semen and other material collected from Taylor's body and apartment did not match Dewey's.

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DNA could exonerate man jailed for 20 years in Palisade murder