GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A man was exonerated after serving 35 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

The Cooley Law School Innocence Project said a Calhoun County Circuit Court judge acquitted Louis Wright of the 1988 conviction for criminal sexual conduct and breaking and entering.

“In 1988, there was no credible evidence pointing to Mr. Wright,” his attorney, Marla Mitchell-Cichon, said in a news release. “Mr. Wright’s false confession led to a no-contest plea and decades of incarceration.” 

The charges stem from the home invasion and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl in Albion on Jan. 18, 1988.  

Wright has always maintained his innocence and even asked to withdraw his guilty plea at sentencing, but the court denied the motion, according to Cooley Innocence Project.

The Cooley Innocence Project said it got DNA testing evidence from the original investigation, which was tested in September by the Michigan State Forensic Science Division to show it did not match Wright’s DNA.

Since it was proven that another man committed the crime, the Calhoun County Prosecutor said the investigation would be reopened to find him.