DALLAS—Stuck behind bars for more than 25 years for a rape he insisted he didn’t commit, Johnnie Earl Lindsey wrote six letters to a Dallas County court seeking post-conviction DNA testing to prove his innocence.

Lindsey, who walked out of court a free man Friday after a judge recommended overturning his aggravated rape conviction, said all six were ignored.

“I couldn’t get nobody to hear my case,” said Lindsey, 56. “Once I could get someone to pay attention to what’s going on, there was no doubt in my mind I would be exonerated.”

That day came Friday, about a week after testing on DNA evidence from a rape kit taken after a 1981 sexual assault of a Dallas woman excluded Lindsey as the source.

He becomes the 20th Dallas County man proven innocent by DNA testing since 2001, although one of those men will be retried by prosecutors. Those 20 cases are a national high for one county, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center specializing in wrongful conviction cases.

State District Judge Larry Mitchell released Lindsey on a personal recognizance bond and recommended the state Court of Criminal Appeals overturn the rape conviction. Lindsey will be considered officially exonerated once the higher court accepts the recommendation or if Gov. Rick Perry grants a pardon.

Mitchell, who was credited by Lindsey for being the first court official to take an interest in his case, delivered an impassioned apology from the bench.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am this happened to you. Your freedom was taken away from you for all these years,” Mitchell said. “There’s a saying that justice delayed is justice denied. Justice was delayed for too long in your case.”

Lindsey, his lawyers and the judge repeatedly praised Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who since taking office in January 2007 has examined wrongful convictions and not opposed attempts by prisoners seeking DNA testing. Mitchell said the job of a prosecutor is “not to convict but to see justice is done. We’re fortunate to have a district attorney with the courage, dignity and honor to fulfill this duty.”

Public defender Michelle Moore, who is Lindsey’s attorney, said Lindsey always maintained his innocence and produced time cards showing he was at work at a dry cleaners when the attack occurred. Lindsey’s boss also testified at trial that Lindsey was working.

Moore blamed eyewitness misidentification and faulty police photo lineup procedures for her client’s conviction. Lindsey, who had a prior conviction for aggravated robbery, became a suspect in the rape of a woman near White Rock Lake after pleading guilty to attempted rape in a separate case, a legal maneuver Moore said “was a business decision” to avoid a lengthy sentence.

Police then included his picture in a photo lineup mailed to the White Rock Lake victim about a year after she was assaulted. The woman was raped by a shirtless man, and Lindsey was one of two shirtless men among the six photos.

He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Lindsey acknowledged he was bitter that a jury disregarded his alibi.

“Who are these people?” Lindsey said. “How could you ignore the type of evidence that was in my case?”

Moore and Lindsey also questioned why previous judges and district attorneys ignored his repeated requests for post-conviction DNA testing, a legal avenue open to Texas inmates since 2001. Lindsey said he sent six DNA testing requests by letter, at least two of them by certified mail, to the district clerk and then the court but never received a response.

Coincidentally, the judge who ran the court that Lindsey said ignored his requests was Henry Wade Jr., son of the legendary Dallas prosecutor who put behind bars many of the inmates now being freed by DNA testing.

Reached by phone Friday, Wade told The Associated Press it was unlikely he ever would have seen the letters. They would routinely be opened by the district clerk’s office and DNA testing requests would be forwarded to then-DA Bill Hill, he said.

“I don’t recall the case, I don’t recall the defendant and I don’t recall seeing any letters,” Wade said.

In attendance at Lindsey’s court hearing were fellow exonorees, a half-dozen wrongly convicted men who each served on average about 20 years in prison. One by one, they introduced themselves to Lindsey, the newest member of their fraternity.

As has become his habit at these hearings, one of the exonorees, James Giles, handed Lindsey a $100 bill to help him get started as a free man.

Another exonoree, Billy Smith, already knew Lindsey. They served nearly two decades together in the same prison unit.

“Nineteen years we did together in the Ellis Unit,” Smith said, hugging Lindsey. “God had his hand in this.”