But Howard Friedman, the Boston-based attorney who represented Powell in a federal civil rights claim stemming from his wrongful conviction, said Powell remains upset that he has not received an apology from Judge Robert A. Mulligan, who presided over the case and is now the Superior Court’s chief justice for administration and management.
“He felt that the judge was totally hostile towards him during the trial,’’ Friedman said.
Powell settled out of court with the state and in the federal civil suit; the terms have not been disclosed.
Powell’s conviction in 1992 had come after the 18-year-old rape victim said she was positive that Powell was the man who raped her. Her error was not discovered until prosecutors agreed to have Powell’s DNA checked against the preserved DNA from her attacker.
“Nothing can return those years to him,’’ said Daniel F. Conley, Suffolk district attorney. “No amount of compensation that he may have received is going to make this right.’’
Powell was released from prison in 2004, eight years shy of the full term of his sentence.
Although Conley was not district attorney when Powell was prosecuted, he said he apologized to Powell yesterday on behalf of a system that had failed him.
“Bear in mind this is a system of human beings and this was a case of eyewitness evidence that the victim … the defense attorney pointed out that in her testimony in court, identified Mr. Powell with 100 percent certainty,’’ Conley said. “Well, we obviously know that that’s not true today.’’
The later indictment of Dixon - in the 1991 rape in Roxbury and in two others - marks the first time in the Commonwealth an indictment has been issued based solely on a DNA profile. Prosecutors say similar cases are in the pipeline.
The story of his arrest in the 1991 rape reflects the steady evolution of DNA forensics.
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