Andre Davis, right, is hugs his father Richard Davis inside the Tamms Correctional Centre. Photo: AP

Andre Davis spent 32 years behind bars as an innocent man before DNA evidence overturned his life sentence. He was only 19 when he was wrongfully convicted of raping and murdering three-year-old Brianna Stickle in 1980.

Now 50, Mr Davis walked out of Tamms super-maximum security prison in Illinois, USA, last Friday into a radically changed world.

I don't think we had the issues they had in America with the vast separation and the vast number of laboratories that were set up over there, and many of them weren't accredited

Had his legal team not requested in 2004 that blood and semen samples be DNA tested, he might never have been freed. The results proved that Davis could not have committed the crime.

One of 42 convicted men in Illinois who were proven innocent after DNA testing, Mr Davis's case reflects a growing trend in the United States. With support from the Innocence Project and other organisations, DNA testing is being used to re-examine cases where prisoners may be innocent.

Advertisement

Australia has not experienced a similar ratio of wrongful convictions being overturned after DNA testing and is unlikely to do so in the future, according to a senior NSW forensic expert, who asked not to be identified.

Unlike the US, forensic laboratories in Australia are more heavily regulated and testing standards are higher, he said.

"We run an extremely thorough and accurate system in Australia where laboratories became accredited very early on.

Go here to see the original:
The trials of Andre Davis: how DNA stopped an innocent life being completely stolen