OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — An Oakland man who spent 14 years in state prison for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl has had his conviction overturned based on new DNA evidence.
The Northern California Innocence Project announced Monday that an Alameda County judge and county prosecutors agreed Friday to find 38-year-old Johnny Williams innocent in the 1998 case involving a child who was accosted two times in as many days. Williams knew the girl’s family and she identified him as her attacker.
The new evidence was uncovered by the Innocence Project, a legal aid clinic based at Santa Clara University’s law school.
They had the girl’s T-shirt tested and found enough DNA to show that it could not have come from Williams.
Williams has been out of prison since January. The voiding of his conviction means he will not have to complete parole.
