HOUSTON -- A Houston judge granted bail Wednesday for Josiah Sutton after an independent DNA lab determined that he may have been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit based on evidence processed incorrectly at the Houston police crime lab.

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Sutton's Mother Reacts To News Of His Release Attorney: Results Prove His Client Didn't Commit Rape

Sutton, 21, was convicted in 1998 for the rape of a woman taken at gunpoint and then dumped in a Fort Bend County field.

"I just want to thank everybody for being fair and understanding and now my baby's name is cleared," Sutton's mother Carol Batie said. "That's the most important thing to me at this time."

Batie said that she never gave up on her son when she knew in her heart that he was innocent.

"I know that I did not raise a rapist," Batie said.

Sutton's attorney Bob Wicoff said that the new DNA results prove his client didn't commit the crime, but he said that their fight in the courtroom is not yet over.

"There's still a pending application for writ of habeas corpus," Wicoff said. "The judge let him out, pending the final resolution of that writ."

Wicoff said that if the Harris County District's Attorney's Office agrees, he will be seeking a pardon from Gov. Rick Perry.

Sutton's case will now go before a criminal appeals court, where judges will decide whether to dismiss his case.

Identigene officials said Monday that the analysis done earlier in the day on evidence provided in the Sutton case determined that Sutton's profile was not found in the evidence that they tested.

Houston police released a statement Tuesday saying, "The Houston Police Department was advised yesterday by Identigene that the retesting it conducted last week has excluded Sutton as being a potential contributor of the DNA evident that was analyzed."

DNA expert Barry Scheck said that the government is also at fault for not providing lawyers skilled enough to fight for their wrongly convicted clients.

"It's the competent defense counsel that makes sure that the laboratories don't screw up good science," Scheck said.

Police arrested Sutton and one of his friends after the victim said she saw two men she thought had attacked her near her apartment five days after the rape.

Sutton and his friend provided blood and saliva samples which were compared to evidence obtained from the woman.

HPD spokesman Robert Hurst said Sutton's case was among 22, including those of seven death row inmates, forwarded by the district attorney's office to the independent lab.

Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said his office would review the case and determine what role the DNA evidence played the prosecution of Sutton.

Rosenthal said if there is a question about the conviction, his office would return it to the courts for a possible retrial or a reversal.

"We'll do the right thing, whether it's with court intervention or our making a decision on our own," he said.

Prosecutor Joe Owmby said eyewitnesses identified Sutton during his trial.

The ongoing retesting of DNA samples is the result of a December audit by the Texas Department of Public Safety and a crime lab professional from Tarrant County who uncovered potential contamination problems at the lab, poor working conditions and inadequate training.

Rosenthal, whose office is reviewing hundreds of cases, said Monday that an inquiry into the cases of inmates from Harris County who have been executed has determined that "none of them relied on DNA analysis by the city of Houston."

Identigene has started its testing in at least one of the death row inmate cases which have been sent to the lab, Caskey said. None of the seven condemned inmates whose cases are being reviewed has a pending execution date.

The police department's crime lab has suspended DNA testing while an internal investigation takes place.