I've pulled out key parts of the story, but you really should read it all. It seems like almost everyone was trying to do the right thing, but he still got screwed because a judge didn't care.
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Nearly two decades had passed by the time Detroit police questioned James Clay in a 1997 rape case.
DNA linked him to the victim, but when police showed Clay a recent picture of the woman, he denied ever having seen her.
Clay found himself charged, then convicted of the crime, largely based on DNA evidence.
Police didn't talk to Clay for so many years because after the victim reported being sexually assaulted, her rape kit languished untested at a property storage facility, part of a group of 11,000 discovered in 2009.
Clay, now 38, and the victim, now 37, said during the long period the case remained unsolved their memories faded and appearances changed, contributing to them not recognizing each other in time to prevent the conviction.
After being contacted by the Free Press, and being told of the victim's new claims, prosecutors began reviewing the case. Wayne County prosecutors and the defense filed new documents Thursday, attempting to free Clay.
"Based upon our findings so far, we have determined that it is in the best interests of justice to move the court to have Mr. Clay immediately released on a personal recognizance bond until the investigation concludes. ... We have filed an emergency appeal to be heard by the Michigan Court of Appeals, and hope this will be resolved expeditiously."
DNA found inside the victim matched Clay. He had a previous felony conviction and his DNA had been entered into a national database used by law enforcement.
The woman said she was surprised when police eventually contacted her about the case. She decided to proceed with it hoping to finally get closure.
Police showed her six head shots of males. She didn't pick anyone out of the group. She recalled in an interview with the Free Press in June at her Detroit home that one person had facial features that looked familiar, but she didn't know why.
Later in the interrogation, Clay, who didn't have an attorney with him, asked police whether the picture he had seen was taken in 1997. The officer in charge replied it was the closest picture she could get.
At one point Clay said she looked familiar, but he remained steadfast that he never had sex with the person in the picture.
DNA from vaginal swabs that were part of the rape kit connected him to the victim and authorities charged Clay with the sexual assault.
"I couldn't believe it," he told the Free Press. "It was like a nightmare."
"That's when I remembered her face," Clay said in an interview with the Free Press. "And knew who she was."
The woman, he said, had been his girlfriend 20 years earlier.
But there was a problem. She said in court that she didn't recognize him.
"Do you see the man in the colored jumpsuit sitting next to defense counsel here … have you ever had consensual sex with that man?" Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Capuzzi asked during the hearing.
"No," she replied.
She also said she knew a Chad in high school and said she would have recognized his voice if he were the person who raped her.
"The person who took you in the alley, was that the Chad that you knew?" Clay's attorney, Dionne Webster-Cox asked.
"No," she responded.
The defense hammered at the police's decision to show Clay a 2015 picture of the woman during his interview with them.
Patuna testified the photo obtained from a police database was the closest to 1997 that she could find but acknowledged she never asked the victim for any older photos.
Expert witnesses testified Clay's DNA was present in the rape kit as was unidentified DNA. It remains unknown who the other DNA came from.
Lawyers grilled expert witnesses about possibilities. According to the testimony, the unidentified DNA could have come from the victim, a nurse during the exam or another person.
No more testing was done on it because the sample was too small, Heather Goff, an expert in DNA analysis and testing, told the jury.
Jurors never heard that Clay recognized the woman as his former girlfriend when he saw her in court.
After several hours of deliberations, the jury returned its verdict: guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
"It was the DNA that was central to the finding of guilt," the jury foreman told the Free Press recently.
Then Clay filed his own brief with the higher court in late 2018. He said he had an intimate relationship with the victim and attached pictures of his aunt's house, consistent with the one the victim had told police about. He also provided a photo of the mutual friend the victim had identified to police as "Dion."
She also recognized Clay from a picture taken when he was younger and called him Chad, her high school boyfriend, Crane's report said.
Soon after, it clicked that Chad and Clay were the same person, Crane said.
"You could see it hit her like a brick wall," he told the Free Press.
"A case this serious, I just feel like somebody dropped the ball," he said.
McIntyre, whose first name is pronounced DYE-on, matches the description of the "Dion" who the victim told police was a mutual friend of hers and "Chad." McIntyre went to Finney, is about 5 feet 1 and has distinct green eyes. He said he played basketball in the neighborhood, but not on his high school basketball team.
He told the Free Press a woman with the first name as the victim did date Chad in high school. Sometimes, they all hung out together.
Given the new information, prosecutors and Clay's attorney asked the circuit court judge to release Clay on a personal bond "in the interest of justice," a court document said. The request was denied. No reason was provided on the judge's order.
Later Thursday, prosecutors and Clay's defense attorney filed several motions with the Michigan Court of Appeals, attempting to get Clay released.
"The parties have requested immediate action because this new information seriously calls into question the integrity of defendant's conviction," a joint motion filed with the Michigan Court of Appeals on Thursday afternoon said.
She wishes she would have seen the photos that jogged her memory earlier.
Although she pursued the criminal case in 2017 hoping to get closure, she said it hasn't come.
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