Union seeks to win auto job back for wrongly jailed man

ST. LOUIS -- A man newly freed after serving 17 years behind bars for rapes that DNA tests now show he didn't commit apparently hopes to win back his pre-prison job as an autoworker.

And there's a prospect Lonnie Erby may get his wish.

On Monday, a St. Louis judge overturned Erby's 1986 rape convictions, threw out his 115-year sentence and ordered him released because DNA tests cleared him. A day later, he learned he may get his old job at what now is the DaimlerChrysler Corp. plant in Fenton, a St. Louis suburb.

Clara Brown, vice president of the United Auto Workers Local No. 110 that represents the plant's workers, said she remembered Erby and "just started knocking on some doors because I know he should get his job back."

While confident that Erby may be able to return to the plant, Brown cautioned that the decision remains in the hands of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler arm, based in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Mich.

On Wednesday, a DaimlerChrysler Corp. spokesman said the company has been trying to confirm that Erby wants to return to the auto plant.

"We don't know whether the gentleman himself has asked to be reinstated," said Dan Bodene, a DaimlerChrysler spokesman on employee and labor matters. "We're looking into it. If he expresses a desire to be reinstated, then we'll work with the union and look at the procedure."

Bottom line, he said: "At this point, without much information, we wouldn't want to rule anything out."

Vanessa Potkin, an attorney with the New York-based Innocence Project, which helped win Erby's freedom, said the gestures are just what wrongly convicted people need.

"I think it's fabulous," she said. "This is the kind of thing you envision happening, but it often doesn't happen."

Efforts to reach Erby on Wednesday were unsuccessful, though Brown said she spoke with him and that he was enthusiastic.

Said Erby's son, Dawan: "That sounds wonderful."