Man Attempting To Prove His Innocence

{West Virginia}...On February 12, 2002, Joseph Buffey pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one count of first-degree robbery, admitting he raped an 83 year old woman in her Clarksburg home the year before and to breaking into a Salvation Army. The judge sentenced Buffey to 40 years in prison for the robbery and 15-35 years for each rape charge and spent about an hour making sure Buffey understood the ramifications of the plea and and explained the trial could postponed until the results of a DNA test came back. Buffey, who has spent nearly a decade in prison for the rape, did not see the results of the DNA test until two years later. In 2003, Buffey filed a petition for post-conviction relief that compelled investigators to pull the State Police lab results of the blood test that Buffey had before his trial. The results indicated Buffey's DNA possibly could be excluded from the DNA found at the scene of the rape. Experts later concluded the results were simply inconclusive. Buffey appealed his conviction to the West Virginia Supreme Court, but his appeal was denied. In 2004, state lawmakers passed a bill that allows convicted prisoners to order post-conviction DNA tests that would prove a claim of actual innocence. Innocence Project attorneys probably will file another appeal based on the new test results.