Man accused of rape for which brother served 19 years in jail

A man is on trial in Louisiana accused of a rape for which his brother served 19 years in jail.

Prosecutors now say Marlo Charles raped and beat a women on a remote strip of road near Houma, Louisiana, in 1981, rather than his older brother Clyde, who was released only after DNA tests proved he was innocent. Clyde will be a witness at Marlo's trial.

Clyde Charles was jailed in Angola state prison, one of the harshest penitentiaries in America. He fought for eight years to have DNA tests. When the state finally relented, the results showed that he was innocent. Within three months police arrested Marlo, who is 19 months younger than Clyde.

Far from seeking vengeance against Marlo who, say prosecutors, kept silent about what he had done while his brother was in prison, Clyde furiously denounced the new trial. He said: "They're going to rehash this all over again? I don't understand how they can convict a person for something they said I did.

"My family is going through trauma. They want it over with. Let my brother come home."

Clyde is bitter about his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. But in his desperation to win the right to DNA tests, he signed papers vowing not to sue for what happened. He said his jury also seemed biased. "I had 10 women and two men, all white," he said. "I didn't have any more chance than if I was running through a fire with gas drawers on."