The League of United Latin American Citizens asked the Harris County District Attorney on Friday not to retry George Rodriguez, who was released from prison earlier this month after serving 17 years on a rape conviction obtained using faulty scientific evidence.
"This is a call for justice," LULAC spokesman Johnny Mata said, "a call for the DA to do what is right."
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal responded that it was too soon for him to decide whether to retry Rodriguez.
"If I wanted to dismiss things right now, I couldn't do it," Rosenthal said.
"Right now, he's still a convicted person because the findings of fact on the writ have been sent to the court of criminal appeals."
Rosenthal, who has said the jury in Rodriguez's case likely relied on flawed testimony about the scientific evidence, said he would "be surprised in this case if they did not reverse."
If that happens, he said, prosecutors will review the evidence and talk to the complainant.
Randall Kallinen, a lawyer with the Houston chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, called on the district attorney to "stop this harassment. Stop prosecuting George Rodriguez." He said the 17 years in prison and "the embarrassment, the shame," that Rodriguez has suffered was based on "false evidence from the now discredited police lab."
Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1987 for the kidnapping and rape of a 14-year-old girl.
A man who confessed to having taken part in the attack told police then that another man with a history of violence was his accomplice. Time sheets indicated Rodriguez had been at his job when the girl was snatched off the street and sexually assaulted.
The victim identified Rodriguez and the Houston Police Department crime laboratory identified a pubic hair found in the victim's panties as coming from Rodriguez. However, DNA tests on the hair earlier this year by a private lab ruled out Rodriguez.