17 Years After Being Convicted of a Rape He Did Not Commit, Deaf Man is Finally Acquitted and Promptly Thrown in Jail for Failing to Register as the Rapist That He Isn't

DALLAS – A judge on Monday overturned the 1993 conviction of a deaf man who was sent to prison for raping a 5-year-old girl despite an absence of physical evidence linking him to the attack.

Stephen Brodie, 39, dropped his head in relief after an interpreter signed to him that Judge Lena Levario had set aside his conviction on the grounds of actual innocence. He then turned to face the courtroom audience, some of whom waved both hands in the air — sign language for applause.

"I feel like a burden has been lifted," Brodie told reporters through a translator. "I feel light. I feel extremely happy."

Brodie's legal woes didn't end immediately, despite the judge's finding of innocence. He was taken back into custody and forced to change from a suit and tie back into a striped jail uniform. He won't be released until officials in Lamar County in east Texas — where Brodie was imprisoned for failing to register as a sex offender — and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice sign off. That had been expected to happen Monday, but a bureaucratic delay with the state prison system delayed the release until at least Tuesday.

A Dallas County sheriff's deputy cut short Brodie's impromptu news conference after the hearing, saying he couldn't permit such a perk for an inmate.