Dallas Man Freed after 30 Years in Prison

DALLAS - A man who spent the last three decades behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit will have his conviction vacated Wednesday afternoon by a Dallas judge.

The Innocence Project discovered that prosecutors suppressed evidence in the 1981 rape trial of Rickey Dale Wyatt.

He was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in a string of South Dallas rapes and sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Wyatt has been behind bars for 30 years. He is now 56 years old.

Researchers with the Innocence Project and the current Dallas County District Attorney's Office discovered at least one witness's claim that Wyatt weighed far less than her attacker, and had facial hair, unlike her clean-shaven attacker.

That information was never presented at trial or disclosed to defense attorneys.

Wyatt went to prison protesting his innocence, and even refused to take a plea bargain for a crime he did not commit.

Criminal District Judge John Creuzot will have a ceremony in his courtroom at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday announcing Wyatt's vacated conviction.