In March 2004, Anthony Powell's kidnapping and rape convictions were vacated after DNA testing proved that he was not responsible for the 1992 rape of a teenage girl. Powell had served 12 years of his 12-20 year sentence.

The victim was kidnapped at knife point as she waited for a bus. The assailant raped her and then demanded that she come to a nearby skating rink the following night with $100. The next night, Powell found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time - he was picked up from the skating rink, positively identified by the young woman, and charged with the crime.

Powell maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration, but it was not until the Committee for Public Counsel Services appointed attorney Julie Boyden that Powell was able to obtain DNA testing of semen found on the rape victim's body. When these tests excluded him as the attacker, the judge quickly acknowledged that Powell was innocent and he was freed from prison.

The DNA profiles were sent to national and state DNA databases in search of the real assailant. Soon after Powell's exoneration, it was announced that an interagency task force was set up to rigorously examine identification procedures.