Judge Orders New Trial Based On DNA Evidence

District Judge Thomas Campbell of Cheyenne on Tuesday ordered a new trial for a man in a 24 year old rape case.

Andrew Johnson has been serving a life sentence for the 1989 rape of a woman in a Cheyenne apartment. But lawyers from the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, based in Salt Lake City, asked Campbell to reconsider Johnson's case after it was found that his DNA did not match samples of DNA taken from the victim following the attack.

Laramie County District Attorney Scott Homar had argued that other evidence against Johnson was still valid, including an eyewitness identification and glasses and ID belonging to Johnson being found at the scene. Johnson's case is believed to be the first time a new trial has been ordered in a Wyoming case based on DNA evidence. Campbell set Johnson's bond at $10,000.