American Man Found Innocent After Spending 28 Years In Prison For Rape

A 46-year-old man, Gerardo Cabanillas was exonerated of the rape, robbery, and kidnapping convictions he spent 28 years in an American prison for, after a new DNA test showed he was innocent of those crimes.

Cabanillas was 18 years old when he was jailed for robbing, kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in Los Angeles, the United States in 1995.

According to CNN, Cabanillas, from California had spent nearly three decades in prison but the new DNA testing said he did not commit the crimes.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, in a news conference on Tuesday, said, “I stand here with you with a deep sense of responsibility as a district attorney to address a tragic miscarriage of justice and to celebrate the exoneration and release of prison of an innocent man.”

Background
In January 1995, a man and woman were robbed at gunpoint by two men who also sexually assaulted the woman, the district attorney said. Days after the crime, Cabanillas, at that time as an 18-year-old man was arrested because he generally matched the description of one of the suspects, Gascón said.

“Mr. Cabanillas always maintained that on the date of his arrest, he was coerced by the investigating detective into giving a false confession with a promise that he would be released on probation,” Gascón said.

Despite no physical evidence connecting Cabanillas to the crime, he was charged with 14 felony counts, according to Gascón.

Cabanillas’ innocence and DNA
Cabanillas during the trial maintained he was innocent throughout but was ultimately handed a sentence that amounted to life in prison.

In 2019, Cabanillas’ lawyers from the California Innocence Project, a non-profit that works to free wrongfully convicted people from prison, filed a motion to have DNA evidence related to the 1995 sexual assault victim tested, the district attorney said. None of the DNA matched Cabanillas, he said.

“After a thorough review of all the evidence, including expert analysis of the purported confession and an interview with the sexual assault victim, we lost confident in the conviction in this case,” Gascón said.

Cabanillas was conditionally released from a prison in May, according to the district attorney’s office. He was permanently freed on September 21, when a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge vacated his conviction and found him factually innocent.

Alissa Bjerkhoel, the California Innocence Project’s interim director, said the exoneration is “bittersweet.”

“The righting of a wrong under these circumstances is deeply profound,” Bjerkhoel said during the Tuesday news conference. “The colossal damage done because of this wrongful conviction cannot be measured. Gerardo has missed out on a lifetime in the free world.”

Investigators with the district attorney’s office have used the new DNA testing to identify a new suspect, who is in custody in connection with an unrelated killing, Gascón said.

Gascón said the man matched the suspect description and “had gone on to commit multiple serious felonies in the same area, including several rapes and murder.”

“To you and your family, I offer our deepest apologies for the horrible injustice that was caused,” Gascón told Cabanillas, who attended the news conference with his family but chose not to speak.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/09/man-found-innocent-after-28-years-in-prison-for-rape-kidnapping/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gerardo-cabanillas-freed-28-years-prison-rape-other-crimes-false-confession/

Cc: Mydn44, Royalroy & Co
This can be move to appreciate section.

"I extend my deepest apologies to Mr. Cabanillas for the miscarriage of justice and the failure of our criminal legal system," the DA said after he was exonerated.


Is that all what the man will get after the whole lot of years of his detention.? No compensation

28years no be moi moi.

INTEGRITYA1:
"I extend my deepest apologies to Mr. Cabanillas for the miscarriage of justice and the failure of our criminal legal system," the DA said after he was exonerated.


Is that all what the man will get after the whole lot of years of his detention.? No compensation

28years no be moi moi.

He should file for illegal detention and request for compensation abi?

benuejosh:
He should file for illegal detention and request for compensation abi?

After taken 28 years out of someone life and later pronounced innocent. He should just be going home without any compensation?

Even to fit back into the society is another problem.

INTEGRITYA1:
■ After taken 28 years out of someone life and later pronounced innocent. He should just be going home without any compensation? Even to fit back into the society is another problem.

Like the other explained, the man will file for compensation and then go from there. Remember, we are dealing with systems built by humans and not some perfect system. It may not seem to be a lot but it is better than nothing after all that hell he had to endure.

Tv

Prosecutors and stats. They pressure people to take the fall even when innocent or risk lengthy sentences.

Politically minded professionals are merchants of errors.

Congratulations to him on his much-anticipated freedom. I'm sure he got a hefty payout, as he should.

INTEGRITYA1:
"I extend my deepest apologies to Mr. Cabanillas for the miscarriage of justice and the failure of our criminal legal system," the DA said after he was exonerated.


Is that all what the man will get after the whole lot of years of his detention.? No compensation

28years no be moi moi.

The man will surely get.some millions for that, some states pay over 70k dollars per year for illegal imprisonment. The money is just to alleviate the hurt and make him assimilate back to the society but can never compensate for the agonies they put him through.

What a nice way to become a millionaire. If it was in Nigeria, all he will get is SORRY.

28yrs behind bar of what you don't know..

talented321:
28yrs behind bar of what you don't know..

Omor e go far

28 years in prison and later pronounced innocent. Inside life.

INTEGRITYA1:
"I extend my deepest apologies to Mr. Cabanillas for the miscarriage of justice and the failure of our criminal legal system," the DA said after he was exonerated.


Is that all what the man will get after the whole lot of years of his detention.? No compensation

28years no be moi moi.

God know say I go kill somebody or 2 people then I go carry myself go back to the prison and happily collect the life imprisonment this time.



#ToxicTruth ✌