After 14 years in prison, DNA clears man of rape

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A man accused of raping two teenage sisters in North Carolina in 1991 is a free man after DNA evidence clears his name.

Forty-nine-year-old Joseph Abbitt had served 14 years of his life sentence when he was released from prison this week.

The local district attorney says his case was re-examined in conjunction with a program called the center on actual innocence.

Abbitt says he is still stunned by the turn of events. He feels like an infant who needs to re-learn everything again and says he needs his close friends by his side.

“I’ve got to learn to crawl,” he said. “I have to learn how to walk and then once I learn that then I can try to be on my own. But right now I need someone positive around me at all times.”