CLEVELAND -- Cuyahoga County Judge Eileen A. Gallagher broke down on the bench this morning as she freed a man who has served 29 years for a rape he did not commit.
After a 10-minute hearing, Gallagher approved a prosecutor's request to release Ray Towler from his life sentence and declared him innocent.
Gallagher stepped down from the bench, approached Towler with an extended hand, and said, "Mr. Towler, you are free to go," as she shook his hand, tears streaming down her face.
Towler beamed throughout the hearing, waved to family members in the back of the courtroom, and again showed no signs of anger or animosity for losing so many years behind bars.
"I just waited for the sun to come up today and it did. And for the first time in a long time, I get to walk in the sun outside of prison," Towler after his release.
Ray Towler had just learned that he was going to be released from prison after serving nearly 29 years for a rape he didn't commit, but the inmate was more interested in talking about LeBron James' injured elbow than blaming anyone for his wrongful conviction.
"This is the greatest day of my life, and it's pure joy; I have no hate for anyone," said the 52-year-old Cleveland native in a phone interview yesterday. "I suppose hoping to see LeBron play in person is too much to ask, but at least I can watch the games from outside the barbed wire. I get to start a new life, and the Cavs are going to win the championship. It doesn't get much better than that."
Towler, who was proved innocent by DNA testing, is expected to be released from the Grafton Correctional Institution this morning after an appearance in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court.
DNA testing has exonerated 253 men nationally, but only a few have served more time than Towler.
He is the third man to be freed in connection with the Dispatch project, Test of Convictions, which was first published in January 2008. The series exposed flaws in the Ohio DNA-testing system, reviewed more than 300 cases with the Ohio Innocence Project and then highlighted 30 prisoners, including Towler, as prime candidates for DNA testing.
"We believed in Ray's case from the beginning, and this is the latest reminder of how important DNA testing can be in the search for justice," said Mark Godsey, director of the Innocence Project who represented Towler. "He is innocent, and the prosecutors agree."
The Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office filed a motion yesterday asking Judge Eileen A. Gallagher to release Towler.
"The state and defendant agree that had those DNA test results been available at defendant's 1981 trial, no reasonable factfinder would have found him guilty of committing rape," the motion stated.
Towler had no previous felony convictions. He has been serving a sentence of 12 years to life for rape, felonious assault and kidnapping for an abduction on May 24, 1981.
The victims in the case, a 12-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, said a man lured them into the woods at the Rocky River Reservation in Cuyahoga County. Prosecutor Bill Mason said a new round of tests will be done in an attempt to find the rapist.
According to state law, Towler could receive about $1.4 million for being wrongly convicted, and that doesn't factor in lost wages, which could push his settlement with the state even higher.
But Towler didn't mention money yesterday and said he is not making any grand plans for life on the outside. He is considering moving to Cincinnati and will continue his life's passion - painting - just as he has done for the past three decades. Towler has created thousands of paintings while in prison, including many that were displayed inside the prison.
Towler lost both of his parents while he was locked up. His mother died in 1984, and his father in 1995, but he is expected to be reunited with his stepbrother and sister today.
"There are a lot of things I was missing, but I have to use my faith in God to stay positive for the future," Towler said. "I do wish my parents could have seen this day and see that I have been telling the truth for all these years."
Towler's case has received attention, but it has been a slow, grueling process since he first asked for a test in 2004.
Cuyahoga County prosecutors have never opposed a DNA test in Towler's case, but he didn't receive one until 2008 because some of the evidence in his case could not be found.
When the Innocence Project requested more testing in February 2008, prosecutors agreed to have the state lab, the Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation, take another look at the remaining evidence.
The state lab found semen on the victim's underwear and sent it to a Cincinnati lab for a powerful type of testing unavailable at the state lab. When the private lab swabbed the underwear, it picked up partial genetic profiles of two males, neither consistent with Towler's profile.
Follow-up testing was ordered in November 2008, but it took 18 months for a Texas lab to submit the final results that proved it was not Towler's semen on the underwear. It's still unclear why the testing took that long, and Towler joked in March that his long gray beard was going to turn white while waiting.
"I feel very sorry that the victim had to go through this," Towler said. "I certainly have no resentment to the victim or anyone else."
