Dallas jurors who sent Richard Miles to prison for 40 years never knew another man had been implicated in the same shooting incident. It took 14 years and detective work by a prisoner advocacy group to unearth reports in police files that suggested others could have committed the crimes that sent Miles to prison. Now, he is set for release next Monday, reports the Dallas Morning News.
The claim that Miles, 34, is innocent is still being investigated by the District Attorney’s office. “We have serious questions as to whether he was convicted of a crime that was committed by someone else,” said Mike Ware, who oversees the DA’s conviction integrity unit. If Miles is exonerated, he would be the second man District Attorney Craig Watkins has agreed was wrongly convicted in cases that did not involve DNA evidence. Miles would be at least the sixth Dallas County inmate in the last two years to have his conviction voided because exculpatory evidence was not disclosed.