Joel Russell, 46, already incarcerated for a sexual assualt, was identified earlier this year as a suspect in a 1985 rape and kidnapping of a Topeka woman. Joe Jones, a Topeka man, had been convicted of the crime, but was released when DNA evidence showed he was innocent.

The Kansas Prison Review Board has continued the parole decision for Kansas inmate Joel L. Russell for further assessment, according to Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman Jan Lunsford.

Russell is serving up to a life sentence for several sex crimes from the early 1990s, and was eligible for parole in June. Last month, Russell was identified by DNA evidence as a suspect in an unsolved 1985 Topeka rape. Another man, Joe Jones, had spent nearly seven years in prison for the crime before his exoneration by DNA evidence in 1992.

Russell was served an arrest warrant in April, and has been charged in Shawnee County with one count of rape.

Lunsford said it usually takes three or four months to make a decision once the Prison Review Board has continued a decision. The board can grant Russell parole or pass him for a period of up to 10 years.