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D.A. drops charges in alleged 2008 rape outside Eagles game

Since November, Tiaghgee Daughtry has been locked up in Philadelphia facing charges that he raped a 40-year-old woman in a party bus outside a 2008 Eagles game.

Since November, Tiaghgee Daughtry has been locked up in Philadelphia facing charges that he raped a 40-year-old woman in a party bus outside a 2008 Eagles game.

The police had a DNA hit on Daughtry.

But the District Attorney's Office dropped the case Friday, and Daughtry was scheduled to walk out of prison Tuesday a free man.

Daughtry, 23, learned last Wednesday what the prosecutor planned to do.

"His reaction was what you'd imagine it to be when you're charged with a heinous crime that you did not commit, and that was extreme elation," said Brian Fishman, Daughtry's lawyer.

Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Seth Williams, released a statement:

"Our office has a continuing obligation to seek the truth, and that does not stop with the arrest of a defendant. In this case, our further investigation led us to determine that we would not be able to present sufficient reliable evidence to meet our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

On Oct. 5, 2008, Daughtry was working as an attendant for Central Parking during an Eagles game when he met his accuser, who had left the game and asked for someone to walk her to the party bus.

Daughtry spent some time in the bus, then left. He returned, and that was when the rape occurred, the woman told police.

Last year, Daughtry pleaded guilty to drug dealing in Wyoming County, northwest of Scranton. He was required to submit his DNA. In September, the DNA came back as a match for what was recovered from the accuser.

Daughtry said he had consensual sex with the woman and gave police a detailed account, Fishman said.

Part of the evidence that might have caused prosecutors to doubt the case was a note left behind in the party bus with Daughtry's first name and a phone number, Fishman said.

Daughtry also returned to work in the parking lot that day and reported to his job the next day, Fishman said. Daughtry quit the job more than a month later.

Daughtry "made a bad decision going in the bus and having sex," Fishman said. "He did not commit a crime."