by TChris

Life has not been good for Kevin Baruxes.

Baruxes was three weeks past his 18th birthday when he was arrested. Now he's 26 and he's got two scars from a prison knife attack that almost killed him and a seven-year gap in his life story that's impossible to replace and almost as hard to explain.

Baruxes was charged with sexually assaulting Cortni Mahaffy, and because a hate crime enhancer was added, the jury was allowed to hear about Baruxes' obnoxiously racist opinions. The jury didn't believe Baruxes' mother, who testified that he was at home when the attack allegedly occurred.

Now, it seems, the attack never happened. The first of a two-part story reporting Baruxes' exoneration appears today. It's a story that has become common.

Wrongful convictions in America's courts are no longer surprising. Rarely a month goes by without one surfacing; in California alone, there have been at least 200 in the last 15 years, according to a recent San Francisco magazine report.