Free At Last!

 

A Louisiana man who spent 17 years in prison for attempted rape has been released after DNA proved he was innocent.

The night Nathan Brown was arrested in 1997 over claims he tried to attack a woman who lived in his apartment complex, he was a father to two young girls.

 

Seventeen years later, and his eldest daughter has a baby of her own, who Brown was able to hug for the first time on Wednesday after being released from prison.

 

 It's really a relief mentally, physically, to be free from serving time for a crime that you did not commit,' Brown said as he held his one-year-old grandson, Kenard, for the first time.

 

'It was hard. It wasn't no easy task being in prison for 17 years for something you had no knowledge of,' the father-of-two told the Times-Picayuna.

The only evidence linking Brown to the crime scene was the victim identifying him after police presented him as the sole suspect.

 

But, after public policy group Innocence Project requested that DNA taken from the victim's dress be tested, it finally proved police had arrested the wrong man.

 

A match was made from a saliva sample taken from the dress, which linked the DNA to a man who is currently serving a sentence in Mississippi. 

The suspect, who has not yet been named, is believed to have lived just a few blocks from where the attack in 1997 took place.

Brown said he hopes that the victim will 'find comfort in knowing that the guy that really committed this crime will be brought to justice'.

He added that he did not resent the victim. 'She was attacked. It was a terrible thing that happened to her.'

The woman had been walking through the courtyard of the apartment building in 1997 when she was knocked to the ground from behind. 

Her attacker bit the woman on the neck, ripped her dress and stole her purse before fleeing. 

She told police she had seen him leave the crime scene on a bike, but when officers arrived the building's supervisor directed them to Brown's apartment. 

His family were one of the few African-Americans living in the building and, despite at least four family members telling police he had not left the apartment, Brown was arrested.

When police knocked on his door Brown was in his pajamas and was rocking his baby to sleep. Despite the victim claiming her attacker had strong body odor, Brown reportedly smelled of soap when she was asked to identify him. 

Brown was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but continually protested his innocence before finally reaching out to the Innocence Project for help last April. 

The group was able to push for the DNA analysis that finally proved Brown's innocence, and is now helping the 40-year-old seek compensation for his wrongful imprisonment.