Rape charge against Indiana man dismissed after DNA testing

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - An Indiana man won't stand trial for a second time on rape and criminal deviate conduct charges filed a quarter-century ago.

The Star Press (http://tspne.ws/2q6TQT0 ) reported that Delaware County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss charges against 60-year-old William E. Barnhouse.

Barnhouse was released from custody on March 8, after tests found another man's DNA on the pants and in the body of the victim of the April 1992 sexual assault in Muncie. Barnhouse had been sentenced to 80 years in prison for the attack.

Hoffman said prosecutors wouldn't be able to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt if the case went to trial again.

"Accordingly, dismissal is in the best interests of justice," he wrote.

He said the victim understands the decision to dismiss the case.

Barnhouse has been represented by attorneys from the Innocence Project, a nonprofit that has exonerated more than 300 convicted people through DNA results.

Barnhouse "spent a quarter of a century incarcerated for a crime he did not commit," Seema Saifee, an Innocence Project attorney, said at a hearing in March.

According to court documents, Barnhouse suffers from "certain mental health conditions" and was scheduled to begin treatment and evaluation at an Indianapolis mental health facility in March.

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Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com