GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A University of Michigan Law School professor who has devoted his career to tracking wrongful convictions says the 17 years that a teen spent in prison after being framed for child rape by a convicted murderer is among the most egregious examples he has seen.

"This case is just one that makes my stomach turn," said Samuel Gross, a researcher, author and editor of the National Registry of Exonerations. "(Quentin Carter) was convicted of an outrageous, horrible crime against a 10-year-old girl. That's a horrible burden."

Gross speaks of the February 1992 conviction of Carter, then 17, based solely on the testimony of the victim. Kent County Prosecutor Bill Forsyth announced Wednesday, June 10, the girl was actually raped by her mother's boyfriend, Aurelias Marshall.

Marshall was convicted Monday of the June 11, 1990, murder of Joel Battaglia, who was beaten to death along Lake Drive SE.

During the course of that cold case investigation, it was discovered that the girl had lied about who had raped her because of threats and violence from her actual assailant, according to prosecutors.

Related: Man wrongly convicted in 1991 rape, framed by murderer, prosecutor says

Aurelias Marshall looks to his relatives in the gallery following the verdict of Joel Battaglia's murder trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday, June 8, 2015.

Marshall was subpoenaed for the 1992 rape trial, but asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because he was on trial for physical abuse against the same girl, court records show.

In a Grand Rapids District Court probable cause hearing from October 1991, the girl testified that she had been inside her home in the 400 Block of Barth Avenue SE the previous month when someone knocked at her door. She said she went to the door and was dragged outside where three men forced her to the ground.

She said that one man she identified only as "Frank" sexually assaulted her and that Carter, who she recognized as a former neighbor from Wealthy Street SE, held her arms down. No one else was charged with the sexual assault.

Under questioning from former Kent County Prosecuting Attorney Helen Brinkman, the girl said that Carter also sexually assaulted her.

The girl's description is detailed and included what clothing was and wasn't removed from her body and where the various players were standing as the attack unfolded. She said her mother was at the store for about 20 minutes when it happened.

Related: Victim in wrongful conviction case never talked about the real rapist, mom says

"He pulled his peter weter out and put it in my privacy," the girl told the judge, according to court transcripts.

During the three-day trial in February 1992, a doctor testified that there were indications of injuries consistent with the girl's description of the assault.

The girl's testimony was enough for a jury to convict Carter of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was served 17 years in prison.

A letter from one of Carter's friends was sent to former Judge Robert Benson saying he was with Carter on Sept. 2, 1991, hanging out at Creston High School, a store and his grandmother's house at the time of the alleged assault.

There would be various motions asking the verdict to be set aside and the Michigan Court of Appeals would affirm the conviction in August of 1994. Part of the higher courts ruling would state that Marshall was justified in refusing to testify while facing child abuse charges.

The victim now admits it was the convicted murderer Marshall who raped her, according to the Kent County Prosecutor's Office. This is not the first time that the victim claimed that Marshall sexually abused her, according to court records, but this time, authorities deemed her claim credible.

The prosecutor's office drafted a motion of relief from judgment, which Carter has signed with the advice of Richard Hillary, director of the Kent County Office of the Defender. That motion now goes before Judge George Buth who is expected to agree to it.

Forsyth said there is nothing that can be done to restore nearly two decades lost by Carter.

Beyond the time in prison, Carter was sentenced to a lifetime as a registered sex offender. A Google search of Carter's name prior to the news of his expected exoneration would pull up his sex offender record first.

Gross says the combination of circumstances make Carter's case stand out among the hundreds he has examined.

"This is the worst one in months, if not years," Gross said.

He said there is little Carter can expect in terms of compensation in Michigan which, unlike many states, has no system for reimbursing those who are wrongly imprisoned.

Gross said unless Carter can prove wrongdoing or violation of his rights at trial, he has little hope for relief.

"If there's no serious misconduct, there's no basis for a lawsuit," Gross said.

Gross said in cases he has studied there are a range of outcomes for those who are exonerated. He said there are many who do just fine and others who, perhaps justifiably, never recover from the hole that has been ripped in their lives.

Forsyth said that there will not be criminal sexual conduct charges coming against Marshall.

"Considering how much trauma (the victim) has endured in her lifetime, I'm not going to put her through the ordeal of a trial," Forsyth said in an e-mail. "Besides, (Marshall's) about to be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life so nothing would be gained by it from a punishment perspective."

E-mail Barton Deiters: bdeiters@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/GRPBarton or Facebook at facebook.com/bartondeiters.5