Governor pardons man cleared of rape by DNA testing

HOUSTON Governor Rick Perry has granted a pardon to a Montgomery County man imprisoned for 18 years for a sexual assault that new D-N-A tests show he didn't commit.

Perry granted the pardon to 42-year-old Arthur Mumphrey, based on his innocence in the 1986 knifepoint assault on a 12-year-old girl. The state pardon and paroles board had recommended the pardon unanimously.

Mumphrey had been sentenced to 35 years in prison after his 1986 conviction. Co-defendant Steve Thomas received a 15-year prison sentence in 1986 after testifying for prosecutors that he and Arthur Mumphrey committed the assault.

But Mumphrey was cleared by the D-N-A tests last year. Only then did his brother, Charles Ray Mumphrey, admit to participating in the assault. But the statute of limitations on the crime has lapsed and the brother can't be prosecuted.