By Bill Rankin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — A 43-year-old man was released from custody Tuesday after serving more than two years in prison for a crime DNA tests show he did not commit.
Michael Marshall was homeless and found sleeping in an apartment hallway when he was arrested in 2007. Officers said he bore an uncanny similarity to a composite sketch of a suspect who had stolen a truck at gunpoint outside a woman’s home in Hapeville.
The woman’s son, who witnessed the theft and provided a description to the sketch artist, identified Marshall as the truck thief, Aimee Maxwell, the Georgia Innocence Project’s executive director, said.
Marshall was charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
When his lawyer could not get the witness’s identification suppressed, Marshall pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of theft by taking and was sentenced to four years in prison.
After receiving a letter from Martin, the Innocence Project got the GBI to conduct DNA tests of items found by police after losing the suspect in a chase. Those tests show that the items belonged to another man.
“This shows there are people who are still going to prison who are innocent,” Maxwell said Tuesday.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford, who presided over the initial case, ordered Marshall’s release.
Copyright 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution