A trial date has been set for March2009 for a Billings man who sued Yellowstone County for violating hisconstitutional rights in a child rape case to which he was exonerated.

Jim Bromgard was convicted in 1987 of raping an 8-year-old girl in Billings, and a judge sentenced him to 40 years in prison.

He was exonerated and released from prison in 2002 after DNA tests showed he didn't commit the crime.

Bromgard,39, claims the county violated his rights by failing to properly hireand supervise lawyers appointed to represent indigent defendants.