The Latest: Man convicted in juvenile jail rape released

MISSOULA, Mont. – The Latest on the release of a man convicted of rape in 2002 (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

A man who has argued he was wrongly convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy at the juvenile detention centre in Missoula County on 2002 has been released from a private prison in Shelby.

Montana Department of Corrections spokeswoman Judy Beck says Cody Marble was released Thursday afternoon.

Retired District Judge Ed McLean ordered Cody Marble released earlier Thursday, two days after Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst filed a motion asking that the judgment against Marble be dismissed.

The motion said the accuser and two other witnesses had recanted their testimony, that detention officers said the rape could not have happened and that they heard other kids were trying to set up Marble.

McLean did not sign Pabst’s motion, saying he wanted to give the former prosecutor an opportunity to comment on statements made in the motion. However, he said he’d likely sign it, so he ordered Marble released.

Marble was 17 when he was charged with the rape.

___

12:20 p.m.

A Missoula County judge has ordered a man convicted in a 2002 juvenile detention rape case to be released from a private prison in Shelby.

District Judge Ed McLean still hasn’t ruled on a motion by the county attorney asking that the judgment against Cody Marble dismissed. McLean said Thursday he likely will, but wanted to give the former county attorney a chance to respond to allegations made in the motion.

Kirsten Pabst filed the motion Tuesday, saying the accuser and two other witnesses had recanted their testimony, that detention officers said the rape could not have happened and that they heard other kids were trying to set up Marble.

Pabst’s motion suggested that threats from former county attorney Fred Van Valkenburg caused the accuser to renege on his statement that he lied about the rape.