DNA Test Frees Texas Man After 25 Years

Another inmate freed by DNA evidence: Michael Morton was formally exonerated today by a Texas appeals court for the murder of his wife in 1986, reports AP. Morton, 57, is eligible to get about $2 million from the state, or about $80,000 for each of the 25 years he was wrongly imprisoned. He won his freedom with help from the Innocence Project, which successfully fought to have a bloody bandana found near the scene tested.

The DNA matches that of a man with a lengthy criminal record who is now being sought. It also matches DNA found at the scene of another woman's beating death in the Austin area in 1988. Prosecutors asked that Morton be immediately released when they learned of that match. "He's anxious to get on with his life," says an Innocence Project attorney. (More Michael Morton stories.)