Texas executed an innocent man in 1989. That is the stunning conclusion of "Los Tocayos Carlos," a groundbreaking article published Monday in The Columbia Human Rights Law Review. As "Los Tocayos Carlos" meticulously documents, Carlos DeLuna was wrongfully convicted and executed for a crime he did not commit.
The news shook me to my core. It could have been me.
I was wrongfully convicted when I was 16 years old and served 20 years in prison before proving my innocence. That mistake took two decades from me, but it took Carlos DeLuna's life.
As I've read about the tragic story of Carlos' death, I'm struck by the parallels between our two lives. Carlos and I could have been brothers -- we come from similar backgrounds and we were both caught up in a criminal justice system that seemed stacked against us as poor young men. But the similarities go deeper.
We were both victims of mistaken identity. Carlos was identified by a single, uncorroborated witness who saw the suspect at night; my identification came by an error-filled photo line-up. In both of our cases, there was no forensic evidence to back up the witnesses.
Also disturbingly familiar was Carlos' struggle to prove his innocence. Both of us spent every day of our lives after our convictions trying to prove that we were innocent, and neither of us could do it alone. Proving that I was not a killer took 20 years and a team of dedicated lawyers, professors, and nonprofit organizations. Without them, I would still be in prison today. Proof of Carlos' innocence has only come out now, 29 years after the crime and two decades after he was executed, because of the painstaking work of professors and students at The Columbia Human Rights Law Review.
Most chilling, though, is the stark difference. My innocence was proven in time. Carlos DeLuna's was not.
Doubts always existed in Carlos' case, but it took 29 years and what some are calling the most comprehensive criminal investigation in U.S. history to produce this report and finally bring justice to Carlos DeLuna's name. More than two decades too late -- it only took 6 years for the courts to deny his appeals and execute him.
Since proving my innocence, I've spent my time with family and friends and each moment has been so full of joy. I am a student at Loyola Marymount University and I work as an advocate for the SAFE California Act to replace the death penalty in California.
Now I can't help thinking about Carlos DeLuna's family and friends. How can they ever have justice knowing that someone they loved was executed for a crime he did not commit? I think about the joys of freedom and vindication that he was never able to feel, and the accomplishments he was never able to achieve.
Every wrongful conviction is a tragedy, but the death penalty makes that tragedy irreversible. I am living proof that cases like Carlos DeLuna's are not isolated, they are the inevitable result of an imperfect system. As long as we have a death penalty, we risk executing innocent people like Carlos DeLuna. Please join me in the effort to replace California's death penalty.
Dan Simon: Carlos DeLuna, Cameron Willingham and Rethinking the Criminal Justice System
Bernie Farber: Human Rights Museum Plans to Bring New Meaning to "Never Again"
I would like my kids to know about your story.
I am happy for you and you are a good exmaple of how people should react in a good way to things that went bad in their lives.
keep the good spirit. Remember, it is not how many years you have lived, it is what you have done in these years that will make you happy.
It's true, our prisons, courts, judges, and lawyers waste more taxdollars in this country than the politicians in Congress do...
Carillo says: "There are some people I'm sure I will never convince of my innocence, but I'm OK with it."
After 21 years, 5 of the 6 witnesses recanted. None of the recantations exclude Carrillo.
Judge Bacigalupo did not say Carrillo was innocent but concluded the recantations and other evidence undermined confidence in the jury's verdict.
There are many cases were a guilty party cannot be convicted or whereby a conviction cannot be sustained because of evidence issues. That doesn't make a guilty person innocent, but it does make them free.
My cursory review of Carillo's case leads me to believe that he is, likely, actually innocent. But his release and the recantations cannot prove his innocence.
I have read that two others have confessed to the crime and stated that Carillo was not involved. If that can be confirmed, then, obviously Carillo would have proven his actual innocence.
Why would someone falsely confess to a murder?
If these two are already serving time and they just want to screw with the system, as criminals often do, then they could have nothing to lose if they confessed and either couldn't be prosecuted, for lack of evidence, or stated that they would only make legal confessions, if their current sentences wouldn't be increased, thereby having nothing to lose by confessing, but would have gained satisfaction in knowing they screwed with the system and let a guilty criminal go free.
Why would a person falsely confess to murder? Duh gee maybe it's because they are threatened with facing the death penalty? That was the case with Phillip Bivens, Bobby Ray Dixon and Larry Ruffin in Mississippi. They were exonerated after serving 30 YEARS.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/17exonerate.html
If you're supposed to be all about victim's rights, then instead of questioning the author's proof of innocence why arent you questioning the prosecutors and investigators who screwed up this case? Why aren't you demanding that prosecutors and investigators who engage in misconduct be held accountable via disbarment and long prison time? It is a slap in the face to the victim's families that the death of their loved ones are being used by the legal system to be re-elected, and/or promoted.
The victim's family was essentially hoodwinked into hating a man for 20 years by those who bore false witness, the investigators, and the prosecutors.
Cases keep coming up every year where people are being exonerated after serving way more than 10 years for a crime that he/she didn't commit and if you don't think that there is something wrong with our legal system, then you sir are comatose. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for even posting that d(u)ng.
For the love of God please free yourself from the bubble that has you thinking that everyone in prison/death row is guilty.
I read the DeLuna case last night on HP. DeLuna's attorney said he refused to cooperate in his own defense.
I grieve for men (and women) like Carlos, like Franky, like so many in the news lately, and countless others who are not "big time news". There is nothing worse than a system with the weight and force of the government coming down on someone who does not deserve it, leaving them with the nearly impossible task of "proving their innocence". I don't know how someone can remain so positive after such an injustice. I doubt my ability to be that calm.
More importantly is that it doesn't keep happening. I applaud you for working on that.
This also shows society one of the many reasons to keep prisons humane. Whenever we hear about the horrible conditions in many prisons here, we should all keep in mind that in at least a few cases, those things are being done to completely innocent people.