DNA clears man convicted of rape

Even though he spent the past eight years in prison, wrongly convicted of kidnapping and raping a teenager in Lemon Grove, Uriah Courtney is considered among the lucky ones.

Lucky, because his case caught the attention of the California Innocence Project.

Lucky, because evidence in the sexual assault still existed to be retested for DNA.

And lucky, because he is one of the few to actually have his conviction overturned, said California Western School of Law professor Justin Brooks, who oversees the Innocence Project.

Courtney, 33, was released from Donovan State Prison on May 6 after new tests showed DNA from the victim’s clothing matched another felon who lived in the area of the attack.

“If it wasn’t for the California Innocence Project, I would still be sitting in prison with a life sentence,” Courtney said Tuesday, a day after District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis officially dropped the charges against him.

Wearing a T-shirt of a California license plate reading “XONR8,” Courtney at times choked back tears at the news conference as he recalled the powerlessness of being wrongly accused, and the relief of being set free.

“I never gave up hope,” he said.

The sexual assault occurred in 2004, the day before Thanksgiving. The 16-year-old victim was going to visit a friend when a man grabbed her from behind, threw her into bushes near a stoplight and assaulted her.

She told investigators that shortly before the attack, she saw a man staring at her from a light-colored truck with a camper shell. She and a witness gave information to investigators for a sketch of the man. A witness later came forward, saying a similar truck had been spotted in Oceanside. Investigators traced it back to Courtney, a North Park man with a checkered past. He was already under investigation for a drug case, and in January 2005 escaped from a work release program.

The victim testified at trial that she was sure of her identification of Courtney and the truck, and a jury convicted him. DNA tests were performed at the time but offered no meaningful results.

Courtney was sentenced to life in prison. At his sentencing, he told the victim that he didn’t commit the rape, and he hoped that someday she’d find that out.

He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of possessing more than $100,000 in drug proceeds. For that crime, he was sentenced to eight years and eight months.

He passed his days behind bars praying, studying the Bible and amassing a small library on Christian doctrine.

“It’s something I found great enjoyment in,” he said.

His family, who lived in Imperial Beach at the time, visited him each Saturday. In 2010, his father contacted the Innocence Project. To the first law student who visited him, he recalled a line from the victim’s testimony at trial, in which she described the attacker putting his face on her shoulder.

“If she hadn’t mentioned that, we would’ve never known where to look,” said the father, Richard Gambino.

In working with the District Attorney’s Office, the Innocence Project lawyers pushed for the clothing to be retested using advanced DNA technology. The DNA profile was then run through a database of convicted criminals, and it matched another man who bears a “striking” resemblance to Courtney.

“Misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful conviction in America,” Brooks said. “Even though it’s very powerful to juries, we know it’s not strong evidence. When matched against DNA, it all falls apart, and that’s what happened in this case.”

That investigation remains open and no arrest has been made, said Deputy District Attorney Brent Neck. The man’s name has not been released.

Prosecutors could no longer prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and dropped the charges.

“I felt like I could fly,” Courtney said of walking out of prison. “It’s just like being born again. It was just amazing,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.

First on his wish list as a free man was a prime rib dinner. He is still working on seeing his 10-year-old son, who lives in Texas. He had been prohibited from seeing the boy due to his status as a sex offender because of the rape, but that has since been lifted.

He is now focused on moving forward and not looking back. He has a background in framing houses but is interested in starting anew with a career in electrical work on power lines.

He is eligible to apply for compensation of $100 a day for the time he spent in custody — about $292,000.

“I’m thankful for every day of freedom that I have,” he said. “Anger and bitterness just add to the pain and would sharpen the mind to revenge, and I don’t want to live my life that way.”