DNA evidence exonerates 21st prisoner in Dallas, Texas

What if you found yourself accused of a crime you didn’t commit? What if the only thing standing between you and freedom was your word against the word of the victim? What if the court ruled against you? Craig Watkins feels that scenario happens far too often in our country, and since he was elected district attorney of Dallas, Texas, he’s done everything he can to correct those mistakes.

Yesterday saw the release of Cornelius Dupree, Jr., who served 30 years for a rape and robbery conviction of which he was ultimately proved innocent. Dupree makes the 21st man District Attorney Watkins has seen exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence. We speak with Watkins from his home in Dallas. We also hear from Chris Scott, who was wrongly incarcerated for murder in 1997 but released due to Watkins’s efforts. Chris was featured in the book, “Tested: How Twelve Wrongly Imprisoned Men Held Onto Hope,” published by Brown Books.