Innocent man freed after 23 years
A North Texas man has been freed more than two decades after he was wrongly convicted of raping a 14-year-old Fort Worth girl.
David Lee Wiggins was convicted in 1989 after the girl picked him out of a photo line-up.
He was sentenced to life in prison, but DNA testing earlier this month excluded Wiggins as the person who committed the crime.
Judge Louis Sturns in Fort Worth freed Wiggins on bond pending his formal exoneration. Tarrant County prosecutors said DNA evidence demonstrated the man’s innocence.
Wiggins would be the second person to have a conviction overturned by DNA in Tarrant County since 2001.
The non-profit Innocence Project said Wiggins will live with a friend he met through his church ministry.
