2023-11-11 21:27:22
After spending 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, a California man has finally been released.
Miguel Solorio, 44, was arrested in 1998 following a fatal shooting in Whittier, California. At the end of his trial, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But 25 years later, a judge freed him following prosecutors admitted he was wrongly convicted. Indeed, according to Solorio’s legal team, he had been identified by a dubious method which consists of obscuring a witness’s memory by repeatedly showing them photos of the same person, Fox News reported.
Even if four witnesses failed to identify the suspect before the story became publicized, authorities reportedly refused to redirect their investigation.
“This case is a tragic example of what happens when law enforcement officials develop tunnel vision in their pursuit of a suspect,” said Sarah Pace, an attorney with the Northern California Innocence Project at the law school. from Santa Clara University.
“Once a witness mentioned Solorio’s name, law enforcement officers focused solely on him, ignoring other evidence and potential suspects, and placing their own judgment on guilt or innocence above the facts,” she said.
It was only last month that the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said in a letter that Miguel Solorio should be released.
“New documented scientific consensus emerged in 2020 that a witness’s memory for a suspect should only be tested once, because the test itself contaminates the witness’s memory,” it read, according to Fox News.
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