Florida man freed after 24 years

TAMPA - A Florida man was freed yesterday after spending nearly 24 years - more than half his life - in prison for rapes that DNA tests recently showed he did not commit.

Alan Crotzer, 45, was convicted in 1982 of raping a 38-year-old Tampa woman and a 12-year-old girl and sentenced to 130 years behind bars.

At a hearing in Tampa, prosecutors said there was significant doubt about Crotzer's guilt and asked Judge Rogers Padgett to set aside the conviction and free Crotzer.

"The motion is granted. You are a free man," Padgett told Crotzer.

His lawyers had filed a motion to have the sentence and charges against him dismissed in February 2004, after California forensics expert Edward Blake confirmed that DNA evidence excluded Crotzer as the rapist.

Crotzer, who is black, was convicted by an all-white jury that took only one hour to reach its verdict, according to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a local advocacy group.

Though he acknowledged his disappointment with the legal system, Crotzer said he was "very happy" outside the courthouse.

He planned to celebrate his release with friends.

- REUTERS