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DNA clears Angel Gonzalez of 1994 abduction and rape

A man who spent 20 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit was exonerated on Monday -- but he'll have to wait another three years to walk free.
Angel Gonzalez. (Photo courtesy of the Gonzalez family)
Angel Gonzalez

A man who spent 20 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit was exonerated on Monday -- but he'll have to wait another three years to walk free, according to NBC News.

Forty-one-year-old Angel Gonzalez was convicted of abducting and raping a 35-year-old woman in 1994 and sentenced to 40 years in prison. But when recent DNA tests found the presence of bodily fluids belonging to two other men -- and failed to link Gonzalez to the crimes -- Illinois state prosecutors said they had no choice but to exonerate Gonzalez.

The men whose DNA was found on crime-scene evidence have not yet been identified.

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After attending Monday's hearing, Gonzalez returned to prison where he will complete a separate, three-year sentence for a property damage conviction stemming from his destruction of a sink while being held in solitary confinement.

Additional reporting by NBCNews' Suzanne Gamboa

Exoneration #138

March 7, 201508:00