Conviction Appealed After Jurors Find Confession in Pants

ST. GEORGE, South Carolina (AP) -- A man found guilty of rape last month is appealing his conviction because jurors found a confession that was never offered as evidence in the pocket of a pair of pants they examined during deliberations.

Stanley Bradley, 41, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after a jury convicted him March 3 of criminal sexual conduct, burglary and kidnapping in the 2004 rape of a Calhoun County woman.

During the three-day trial, prosecutors did not enter a written confession into evidence because they could not find a copy.

Once the jury began to deliberate, they were given a pair of Bradley's pants that were put in evidence. In one of the pockets, they found a confession, according to testimony at a hearing last week.

Details here from the AP via CNN's Law Center.