DALLAS, US - A MAN walked out of a Dallas court on Tuesday after DNA testing overturned his conviction over 27 years ago for the murder and rape of his girlfriend, local media reported.

Mr James Woodward, 55, spent more time in prison than any other wrongfully convicted inmate in US history who was subsequently freed by DNA testing, local media reported.

He was also the eighteenth person freed in Dallas County based on a post-conviction DNA analysis, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal centre that specialises in righting grave miscarriages of justice.

That is more than any other US county, highlighting problems in the local justice system that include what critics have said is a history of racism and racial profiling.

Mr Woodward is a black man - the typical profile of those wrongfully sent to prison in Dallas and elsewhere in the United States.

'We've reached a tipping point on wrongful convictions in Texas. Nobody can seriously doubt that there's a problem,' the Innocence project quoted Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis as saying on Tuesday.

Sen Ellis said on Tuesday a summit would be held in the state capitol of Austin on May 8 to determine the causes of wrongful convictions in Texas and identify reforms that can prevent them. - REUTERS