David Pope

David Pope spent nearly fifteen years in prison for a rape he didn't commit. David was living in Texas when he was convicted of raping a woman at knifepoint in February of 1986. Mr. Pope was identified in part using a controversial technology known as voice spectrography-a technique that had never before been admitted by a Texas court. Soon after Mr. Pope's trial, courts ceased permitting voice spectrographs to be admitted, because scientists found them unreliable.

In 1999, the District Attorney's Office decided to DNA test the rape kit in Pope's case because of an anonymous tip they received. The testing revealed that an incarcerated sex offender had committed the rape, but he could not be tried for the offense because the statute of limitations had already expired. Pope was not freed until February of 2001, when Governor Perry signed his pardon. George W. Bush, who was Governor when the DNA test results were announced, refused to sign the pardon. He was seeking election to the presidency at the time.