After maintaining their innocence for almost a year, two men who belong to the Michigan punk rock band called Goddamn Gallows have been freed of sexual assault charges. They were arrested in July 2010 stemming from an incident in Orange, Connecticut.

A woman from New Haven had claimed the men, who are both 30 years old, raped her at a house party in Orange. They spent three weeks in jail following their arrest for the sex crime. Their attorney claims they spent the time in jail for a rape they did not commit. One of the men had been charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, while the other was charged with one count.

Even after being released from jail in August 2010, the men were apparently forced to stay in Connecticut. They were not allowed to return to their home and work lives until a judge granted their motion to modify their bond in October 2010.

According to the Milford-Orange Bulletin, the case was dropped as the one-year anniversary of the arrest approached. The men were said to be very happy with the outcome, but their attorney says their lives were still turned upside down because of what happened.

The men's bandmates had reportedly said that the woman pursuing the charges went to the band's party on the night in question, uninvited, and pulled the two men into the bathroom to have sex. The men's attorney had maintained that a jury would not be convinced that any sort of sexual assault ever happened.

Source: Milford-Orange Bulletin, "Charges dropped against band members accused of sex assault in Orange," Brian McCready, 8 June 2011