Man spent 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, California official says
After spending two decades behind bars, a California man has been found innocent of murder, officials said.
Alexander Torres was found factually innocent by the Los Angeles Superior Court in April after the court was approached by the Conviction Integrity Unit and the California Innocence Project, the LA County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release on Wednesday, June 1.
“We must be willing to own up to past errors, determine what went wrong and make sure we do not repeat those mistakes,” LA County District Attorney District Attorney George Gascón said in the release.
Torres was wrongfully convicted of murder in 2001 and sentenced to 40 years to life in state prison, according to the release. His sentence was vacated in October, and he was released from prison.
“I’m happy I’m with my family today, and I’m very grateful for anybody that helped me out because all I wanted was to be heard,” Torres said at the time of his release, ABC7 reported.
Torres was wrongfully convicted in the murder of Martin Guitron, who was killed on New Year’s Eve in 2000, according to a joint motion for finding factual innocence filed in the LA County Superior Court.
Guitron belonged to a Compton gang and went by “Casper,” the document said. He and Torres had a “well-known adversarial history.”
Guitron was walking with a friend in Paramount, a city east of Compton when the court document says a blue 1990s Chevrolet Caprice stopped, and a passenger approached Guitron, asking, “Are you Casper? Are you Casper?” The passenger then shot Guitron, who died from his injuries, the filing says.
Given their history, the attorneys on both sides agreed that Torres would have recognized Guitron, according to the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, several family members said Torres had been at his mother’s home the night of the murder, and no murder weapon was recovered, the outlet reported.
In 2006, the Torres family received a call from a friend who said they had “the names of the true perpetrators,” according to the California Innocence Project.
“The getaway driver eventually admitted to Torres’s family he committed the crime with another man, and he knew Torres was not involved,” CIP’s statement said.
Audrey McGinn, an attorney who worked for California Innocence Project on the case, told the Los Angeles Times that Torres’ wrongful conviction was a result of “tunnel vision.”
“He was an easy target, and it was easy to establish motive,” McGinn told the LA Times.
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Man spent 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, California official says."
