During the brief hearing, the Harris County District Attorney's Office did not oppose Sonnier's release pending further investigation. But he has yet to be exonerated. More than 20 friends, relatives and well-wishers waited in the lobby of the jail for hours as Sonnier's paperwork was processed. When the elevator doors finally opened, a cheer went up and he found himself being hugged from every direction. “I feel good. I'm glad I'm home, with family,” Sonnier said, his eyes wide at his reception amid the crowd and surrounded by reporters. “It's been hard for me,” the 46-year-old said of his years in prison. “There's no way I can make it up. It's lost.” He pointed out his nieces and nephews in the crowd. “When I left, they were little girls and boys. Now they're grown.” Sonnier said he had not slept since Wednesday when Alba Morales, his Innocence Project lawyer, called with the news of his release. “When she told me I was clear, I cried the whole time we talked,” he said. “I cried the whole time. I haven't been to sleep yet.” Sonnier was sentenced to life in 1986 for aggravated kidnapping in the abduction and rape of an Alief woman. The victim was kidnapped on Christmas Eve and raped by two men as they drove her car to San Antonio. Sixth county inmate freed DNA testing over the past 18 months implicated two convicted felons as the actual perpetrators of the 1985 crime, Morales said. The Innocence Project conducted nine rounds of DNA testing since March 2008. “Faulty forensics by the Houston Police Department criminal laboratory, as well as a bad eyewitness ID — a wrongful, mistaken eyewitness identification — put him away. Twenty-three years are gone,” Morales said. Sonnier is the sixth Harris County man to be freed by new DNA testing and revelations of faulty work and testimony by the HPD crime lab. Problems in four divisions of the crime lab — DNA, serology, ballistics and toxicology — prompted the city to hire a former U.S. Justice Department official, Michael Bromwich, to investigate the facility in 2005. The investigation and report, which cost $5.3 million, exposed possible problems with numerous cases and prompted calls for the creation of an independent regional crime lab. Supervised release Earlier this year, a bill mandating best practices for both photo and in-person lineups to minimize false identifications died in the Texas Legislature. Standing behind Sonnier at the jail, his mother said the years apart were hard. “It wasn't easy because I knew he was home with me when this happened,” said Altha Davis. “You hear so much about what happens in prison, I just prayed that he would make it home.” Sonnier is prohibited from contacting the new suspects or the victim. His supervised release means he must not use any drugs or alcohol and will be monitored by GPS, which will be paid for by the district attorney's office. ‘Plenty more' innocent Before his 1986 conviction, Sonnier had been convicted of four robberies and the burglary of a motor vehicle, Harris County DA's spokeswoman Donna Hawkins said. After Sonnier walked out of the jail, free for the first time since his arrest, he acknowledged that the criminal justice system failed him and said there are other innocent people in prison. “It was there,” he said. “The evidence was on the table that I wasn't the guy. And they failed to show justice.” He added, “There's plenty more who are in there who are innocent. I want to be an example. All I can tell them is: Keep fighting.” Asked how angry he was, Sonnier shook his head. “I used to be mad, but the past is the past.” brian.rogers@chron.com |
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