Last Friday, a Dallas man was been exonerated of charges of sexual assault after spending 14 years in prison on a wrongful conviction. Sources said he plead no contest to the charges in 1992 as he didn't want his 7-year-old stepdaughter to go through trial.

As a result, he was placed on 10 years of probation and went through sex offender treatment. He was kicked out of a counseling program, however, when he refused to admit that he was guilty of the crime. That resulted in a sentence of 20 years in prison.

The case began to fall apart when his stepdaughter recanted her accusations back in 1998. Earlier this year, the man's attorney found that prosecutors of the case back in the 1990s had withheld evidence that raised doubts about the girl's credibility.

One unique thing about the case is that overturning the conviction did not rest upon DNA evidence. The key in this man's case was the discovery of notes indicating that the victim's maternal grandmother believed the girl had been lying about the accusations.

According to the man's attorney, prosecutors of the case had engaged in prosecutorial misconduct. The prosecutors involved in the case, however, are now deceased, as is girl's grandmother.

It is cases like this that demonstrate the importance of defendants obtaining the best possible defense. Sex crimes cases bring a terrible stigma on those accused and convicted. That stigma often follows them around for the rest of their life. Additionally, prosecutors do not always have justice in mind, and need to be kept honest. Defending the accused is essential to making sure our system is working properly.

Source: Associated Press, "Dallas man freed after 14 years for sexual assault," Danny Robbins, November 4, 2011.