In an exam­i­na­tion of the case against three men sen­tenced to death for a triple mur­der that occurred in Tucson’s El Grande Market, reporter Jeffrey Toobin in the New Yorker describes the inci­dents that led to the fall of the lead pros­e­cu­tor, Kenneth Peasley, for pre­sent­ing false evi­dence in the case. Only one of the co-defen­dants, Martin Soto-Fong, remains on Arizona’s death row. Of the oth­er two defen­dants, Christopher McCrimmon was acquit­ted at a re-tri­al in 1997, and Andre Minnett had his con­vic­tion reversed in 1996, with sub­se­quent pros­e­cu­tion barred on dou­ble jeop­ardy grounds in 2002 because of Peasely’s inten­tion­al mis­con­duct. In 2004, Peasley was dis­barred for his actions in the El Grande case. Soto-Fong, who was 17-years-old and a for­eign nation­al when the crime occurred, is appeal­ing in fed­er­al court and has main­tained his inno­cence. Recently, a new wit­ness has emerged point­ing to oth­er defen­dants and exclud­ing the three who were originally convicted.

(J. Toobin, ​“Killer Instincts,” The New Yorker, January 17, 2005). See Innocence. and Prosecutorial Misconduct.

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