One of the things Eric Berger focused on in his story about the relevance and importance of Charles Darwin some 200 years after his birth was the rise of DNA and its application to criminology. Today, DNA evidence is as well known for freeing the innocent as it is for convicting the guilty. Sadly, sometimes that evidence comes too late to actually set the wrongly-convicted person free, as is the case with Tim Cole of Lubbock. But that doesn't make his exoneration any less important. Read his story and think how many others like him there must be.

UPDATE: The Lege pays honor to Timothy Cole. Grits has more.