WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal prosecutors say DNA evidence has exonerated a man who was convicted of a 1981 rape and who spent 22 years in prison for the crime.

The U.S. Attorney's Office on Tuesday joined in a motion to vacate the conviction of 49-year-old Kirk Odom, who was sentenced to 20 to 66 years in prison for rape while armed.

Officials say a search of the DNA profile in the FBI's Combined DNA Index System turned up a match to another man who has previously been convicted of a sex offense. However, at the time there was a six-year statute of limitations on serious sex offenses.

Police say the victim was asleep in her Washington home on Feb. 24, 1981, when a man went into her bedroom and raped her.