Convicted rapist released

A rapist set free after a six-year delay in his sentencing and whose case is to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court was released from state prison Thursday. Arkansas Department of Correction spokeswoman Dina Tyler said that they received the state Supreme Court order vacating 27 year old Michael Shane Jolly`s sentence. She said he went home and that it was a mandatory release. The state Supreme Court overturned Jolly`s conviction in June. The Arkansas Attorney General`s office and the Saline County prosecutor said Monday that they plan to appeal to the Supreme Court. Jolly remained free after pleading guilty in 1997 in Saline County Circuit Court to raping a 12-year-old girl. When new Saline County prosecutor Robert Herzfeld took over in 2003 he noticed the oversight and brought Jolly to court, where he was sentenced to 24 years in prison with 12 years suspended. Jolly appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court, which in a 5-2 ruling said the delay in sentencing in Saline County violated his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. Herzfeld said Thursday that the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is still planned.