After he served 24 years in a Florida penitentiary for armed robbery and rape, Alan Crotzer is a free man.

DNA testing and other evidence convinced prosecutors that Crotzer, 45, was not involved in the brutal 1981 crimes against a Tampa, FL, family.

Crotzer was exonerated three years after he contacted the Innocence Project, a legal clinic that has helped clear 172 wrongly imprisoned people through DNA testing since 1989.

"It's been a long time coming, Crotzer said after his recent release granted by Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett. "Thank God for this day."

Crotzer was convicted in 1982 of sexual battery, kidnapping, burglary, aggravated assault, robbery, and attempted robbery, according to the Innocence Project. He was sentenced to 130 years in prison and served nearly half his life behind bars.

Two other men, Douglas James and Corlenzo James, who are brothers, were also charged in the offense. Both brothers were convicted of robbing the Tampa family.

Crotzer and Douglas James were found guilty of kidnapping and raping a 38-year-old woman and her 12-year-old daughter at gunpoint. A victim picked Crotzer out of a lineup. Douglas James now says Crotzer is innocent.

Now that he's a free man, Crotzer plans to live with his sister in St. Petersburg, FL, and find a job. His attorneys said they are planning to seek compensation from the state for him. However, Crotzer, who says he's not bitter, explains that there is no compensation for what happened to him.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group