Man wrongly convicted of murder in the US is exonerated after spending 32 years in prison

a man of California who spent more than three decades behind bars for a murder he did not commit was exonerated of the crime Monday, paving the way for his release from prison, authorities said.

Joaquin Ciria, now 61, was arrested in 1990 and convicted of a shooting murder in San Francisco. He was convicted based on false witness testimony and police misconduct, said San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who dismissed the case against Ciria after a judge threw out his case.

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In case of Ciria it marked the first exoneration pushed by the District Attorney’s Innocence Commission, which was established by Boudin in 2020 to review potential wrongful conviction cases.

“32 years ago, you were separated from your wife and baby, and that’s because the system catastrophically failed you.”said Lara Bazelon, president of the commission, during a press conference with Boudin and members of the family of Ciria. “Now, at last, you have a chance to get your life back.”

Ciria He was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment for the shooting death of Felix Bastarricawho was shot in the head after an argument in a San Francisco alley.

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An 18-month investigation by the commission located new witnesses and evidence and found “a cascade of errors” in the way the case was handled, including police coercion of the key witness, who was a teenager at the time, said Bazelon, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

“There was no DNA, no fingerprints, and the murder weapon was never recovered,” he said, adding that Ciria had always maintained his innocence and had two alibi witnesses who said he was at home at the time of the murder, but were never called by the defense, possibly because they only spoke Spanish. “If a jury had heard this case today, there would have been no conviction.”

The moment of release Ciria it was not immediately known, Boudin’s office said.

“Mr, Ciria He has been in prison for more than 30 years for a crime he did not commit,” Boudin said. “Today we celebrate overdue justice, but we cannot stop working to undo other wrongful convictions.”

Source: Elcomercio

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