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It's unclear if Ruiz has obtained an attorney to file a lawsuit, but if he does decide to take the civil routine, Saifee said: \"he has the right and legal opportunity to.\"

Ruiz's exoneration was based on an untested sexual assault kit that was administered to the victim in 1984 as well as questionable testimony from the victim, prosecutors said.

During Ruiz's trial, prosecutors presented the blood type found in the kit and said he has the same blood type, ergo, \"it was 'possible' he was the source of the semen,\" according to court documents. The swabs and the underwear the victim was wearing during the attack were still in the kit when it was tested in 2019 and a \"partial male DNA profile\" was found that excluded Ruiz as a possible contributor, according to court documents.

All samples in the rape kit had the same \"major male contributor\" which was not Ruiz.

The male DNA profile found was sent to a lab in California were the sample was put into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) where there was no match.

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