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Eugene Henton

State: Texas
Incident Date: 02/18/84
 Age at Arrest: 17
 Conviction Date: 1984
 Age when Exonerated: 39
 Exonerated Date: 2006
 Time Served: 4 years
 Conviction: sexual assault
 False Confession: True
 Implicated by Another Youth: False
Details

Falsely accused at seventeen of committing a sexual assault, Eugene Henton was facing life in prison after being misidentified by the victim. When the prosecution offered him a sentence of only four years in exchange for a guilty plea, he felt he had no choice but to take the deal. He was released on parole after twenty months in prison, he was convicted of a different crime for assault and two felony drug charges. Because of his parole, his sentence was harsh: sixty-two years in prison. Henton continued to fight for DNA testing for his original crime, and in 2005, DNA proved that Henton was not the perpetrator of the sexual assault which had occurred nearly twenty years prior. His 1984 conviction was overturned, and his other sentence was subsequently thrown out as well, since it had been based on his wrongful conviction. He was re-sentenced to time already served and released in 2007.



Post Exoneration: