In breaking news, a man from California has been released from prison on Thursday. This comes after new evidence was discovered, indicating that he was not present at the location of a shooting that occurred in 1989.
The man had previously been convicted on six counts of attempted murder and had served a sentence of 33 years.
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According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Daniel Saldana has been sentenced to 45 years in prison. Saldana was one of three men who were convicted of shooting at a car that contained six high school students on October 27, 1989, in Baldwin Park, California.
The students were mistakenly identified as gang members. All the students survived, but two of them sustained injuries.
In a recent development, the conviction of Saldana, who had consistently maintained his innocence, has been reevaluated by prosecutors. This decision was made following the receipt of a 2017 parole hearing transcript, which revealed that Saldana “was not involved in the shooting in any way and was not present.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón (D) has announced that the investigation has concluded, leading to the declaration that “Saldana was innocent of the crimes he was convicted of and for which he spent over 33 years in prison.”
In a news release, Gascón stated that as prosecutors, their responsibility is not only to obtain convictions but also to pursue justice. According to the speaker, when an individual is wrongly convicted, it represents a shortcoming of the justice system, and it is incumbent upon us to rectify the situation.
According to the speaker, justice must be served for the wrongfully convicted individual and for the benefit of the public.
At the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, Saldana informed reporters that he had always maintained hope of being exonerated.
At a news conference, Saldana expressed the daily struggle of waking up in a cell, knowing of their innocence and crying out for help. The individual expressed their joy stating, “I’m just so happy this day came.”
According to Mike Romano, the attorney representing Saldana, The Washington Post reported on Friday that Saldana is doing remarkably well despite being wrongfully convicted.
According to Romano, there was a significant amount of discussion regarding the incredible, magnificent, and superb aspects of the situation, as well as the heartbreaking nature of it all. In a remarkable way, he focuses on the positive of everything.
According to the individual, this particular thing has been instrumental in their ability to endure a lifetime spent incarcerated.
In the latest development, Saldana has been exonerated after spending decades in prison, adding to the growing list of recent cases where individuals have been cleared of charges. According to data from the National Registry of Exonerations, the past decade has seen the 17 longest wrongful-conviction cases in U.S. history.
Anthony Mazza, who was exonerated in 2021, spent over 47 years in prison for murder and robbery, as per the database jointly maintained by the University of California at Irvine, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University.
In one of the longest wrongful-conviction cases in U.S. history, Kevin Strickland has been exonerated after 43 years.
According to a 2020 study conducted by the National Registry of Exonerations, over 50% of wrongful criminal convictions are a result of government misconduct. According to a recent study that analyzed 2,400 exonerations spanning from 1989 to 2019, almost 80 percent of those cases involved violent felonies.
According to the study, police officers and prosecutors were seldom held accountable for their involvement in wrongful convictions.
According to a recent study, over 50% of wrongful criminal convictions are a result of government misconduct.
During the Baldwin Park shooting, Saldana, who was 22 years old at the time, was employed as a full-time construction worker.
According to records filed to the California Supreme Court, Esteban Rodriguez and five of his friends were approached by another vehicle in Baldwin Park after leaving a high school football game in his car.
According to prosecutors, Saldana was said to have accompanied Raul Vidal and April Gallegos in the rear seat of a Datsun. According to Romano, Saldana was not acquainted with Vidal and Gallegos, as reported by The Post.
According to records, Vidal reportedly asked Rodriguez about his gang affiliation, and subsequently charged towards the teenager’s vehicle while shouting for a firearm. According to prosecutors, as Rodriguez accelerated, the car was reportedly fired upon.
According to prosecutors, Saldana allegedly initiated the shooting. Enrique Zamudio, a passenger in the car driven by the teenagers, was reportedly shot in the right thigh.
Several weeks after the incident, the victims positively identified Saldana during a police lineup. Despite Saldana’s denial of being present at the scene of the incident, he was found guilty in 1990 of six counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle.
Vidal and Gallegos have been found guilty on all counts. According to records, Saldana’s argument that his conviction relied on insufficient evidence was rejected by an appeals court.
According to the district attorney’s office, Vidal informed a state parole board that Saldana was not involved or present during the shooting, despite Saldana having served over 27 years in prison.
In 2017, Vidal stated to the Los Angeles Times that despite the report’s findings, Daniel Saldana was actually a victim of theirs. According to the speaker, he is actually innocent.
According to Romano, Vidal was deported to Mexico in 2017 after being released on parole due to his undocumented status.
According to Gascón, during a statement on Thursday, the details from Vidal’s hearing were not disclosed to Saldana or his legal team.
Additionally, a prosecutor from Los Angeles County who was present at the hearing failed to report the information. The reason for the information not being made available to Saldana remains unclear.
According to Gascón, the district attorney’s office received a transcript of Vidal’s 2017 parole board hearing from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. On May 11, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Ryan made an announcement regarding Saldana’s case.
This comes after an investigation was launched to reexamine the case, which took several months. The judge declared a finding of factual innocence.
After a period of two weeks, Saldana was released from custody and regained his freedom.
According to Romano, who also serves as the chair of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D) committee on revising the penal code, it is disappointing that the information presented at Vidal’s parole hearing was not made available earlier.
However, he expressed gratitude that the evidence eventually surfaced, leading to his client’s exoneration.
According to Romano, the district attorney’s office conducted a reinvestigation of Danny’s case and made an unprecedented turnaround.
Gascón refrained from revealing further specifics regarding the case that resulted in the exoneration. However, he expressed regret to Saldana and his loved ones for the duration of time that he was wrongfully incarcerated.
He said, “I know that this won’t bring back the decades you endured in prison.” The speaker expressed their hope that their apology would provide some solace to the recipient as they embark on a new chapter in their life.
According to Romano, the case will proceed with an investigation into how Saldana was convicted in 1989 and why the new information was not brought to light until 2017. According to the attorney, the state would provide “significant” financial compensation to his client for the wrongful conviction.
According to the speaker, their primary focus is to ensure Danny’s comfort and safety.
On Thursday, Saldana was seen wearing a gray suit and was surrounded by his family. He was in tears as he embraced his loved ones who had stood by him during his wrongful conviction.
Saldana expressed to reporters that the situation was overwhelming. The individual expressed, “I had a feeling that this day would eventually arrive.” The individual expressed gratitude and attributed their thanks to God and Jesus.
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