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Grimes testifies on Tuesday against 1987 rape, kidnapping charges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man accused of rape and kidnapping in 1987 testified Tuesday in front of three judges for roughly two hours.

Willie Grimes told them repeatedly that he remembers that day back in 1987 well because he was arrested for something that he didn't do.

Grimes served nearly 25 years in prison after being convicted of rape and kidnapping.

His attorneys say a jury convicted him even though Grimes had as many as six alibi witnesses.

Last December, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission discovered fingerprints found inside the victim's
home were linked to a second man, Albert Turner, who was arrested just last week in connection with a different rape.

On Tuesday, Channel 9 learned that much of the evidence collected in the Grimes case has been lost or destroyed.

Grimes had a chance to get out of prison years earlier, but he would have had to admit to the rape and take sex offenders classes.

"Because I knew I was innocent and I would have to sign papers that I was guilty and I told them that I would spend the rest of my life in there and die in there before I signed papers saying I was guilty of something I didn't do," said Grimes.