In New York state, a new look at the wrongly convicted

Article here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK (Reuters) – A recent spate of exonerations in New York state has put renewed focus on the plight of the wrongly convicted, with advocates saying it is not as easy as it should be to get an unjust verdict reversed.

In the last two decades, 246 people have been exonerated in the United States with the help of DNA evidence after being convicted of crimes.

But advocates say the system still lags for a far larger pool of people -- who are part of the 90 percent of criminal cases where no DNA evidence exists, but where compelling evidence might surface, such as questions about the reliability of a witness.

Last week, a 32-year-old carpenter who was convicted of rape became the fourth New York man in six months to have his conviction overturned after flaws in the evidence against them were uncovered.

The man, William McCaffrey, had served almost three years of a 20-year prison sentence until his accuser came forward and said she made the story up and lied in court.

"McCaffrey's case shows that people can get on the witness stand and ... evidence that is convincing to a jury is not true," said his lawyer, Glenn Garber.

According to the Innocence Project, which helps exonerate wrongly convicted people through DNA testing, the 246 convicts who have been freed with the help of DNA testing nationwide served an average of 13 years behind bars.'