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Former death row inmate accused of Colorado rape

Posted at 10:23 AM, Feb 25, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-25 12:44:00-05

A former Texas death row inmate freed nearly 30 years ago is accused of kidnapping and raping a juvenile in Colorado.

Claude Lee Wilkerson was arrested Sunday and is being held in the Mesa County Jail.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports he is expected to be charged in the case on Monday.

Mesa County Sheriff's Sgt. Henry Stoffel confirmed that Wilkerson spent four years on death row before being freed from Texas state prison in 1983 after a judge threw out his confession because he didn't waive his rights. He was one of four men arrested in 1978 in connection to the deaths of three people during a jewelry store robbery.

His lawyer didn't return a call seeking comment.