Wrongly convicted sees rapist sentenced - The Boston Globe

Wrongly convicted sees rapist sentenced - The Boston Globe

"During his 12 years behind bars on rape charges, Anthony Powell staunchly maintained his innocence.

Eventually, DNA forensics, which had come of age, showed that he was telling the truth, and he was freed.

Yesterday, Powell sat in a Suffolk County courtroom as another man, Jerry Dixon, admitted in a low, gruff voice that he committed the brutal 1991 rape in question and two other, similar rapes months apart.

Powell remained expressionless throughout the proceedings and glanced only briefly at Dixon, about 30 feet away. After Dixon, 38, of Dorchester, pleaded guilty and was led out of the courtroom to begin serving a 30-year sentence, Powell, 40 and now living in New York state, declined to talk with reporters.

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."