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South Carolina resident Leonard Mack, age 72, has been exonerated of a 1975 rape in Greenburgh that he was convicted of in 1976, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
- Earlier Report: New DNA Evidence Exonerates Man Of Rape In Greenburgh: DA Seeks To Vacate Conviction
Following his wrongful conviction, Mack served a sentence of over seven years and fought to clear his name ever since.
Thanks to an investigation conducted in August 2022 by the DA's Office's Conviction Review Unit at the request of the Innocence Project, Mack was finally exonerated thanks to new DNA testing following the discovery of physical evidence preserved since 1975.
"After nearly five decades, DNA testing has proved what I have advocated for all along—that I am innocent of this crime," Mack wrote on a GoFundMe page started to raise money to help him rebuild his life following his exoneration.
As of Wednesday, Sept. 6, the fundraiser page had already raised over $11,300 out of a $25,000 goal.
Several donors commented on the exoneration, including Marty M., who wrote, "It's just a travesty that it took so long."
Those interested in contributing to the fundraiser can do so by clicking here.
Following the DNA testing that excluded Mack from the crime, the results were found to instead match a Westchester man who had been convicted of a 1975 rape in Queens two weeks after the 1975 Greenburgh rape, as well as a 2004 sex crime in Greenburgh.
This suspect confessed to committing the 1975 Greenburgh rape when interviewed by a DA's Office investigator. However, because of New York State's statute of limitations, he cannot be prosecuted. He will now instead be prosecuted for failing to register as a sex offender after the 2004 incident.
The Westchester DA's Office and Mack's attorneys from the Innocence Project appeared before the New York State Supreme Court on Tuesday to ask that Mack's conviction be overturned.
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