Entries tagged with “Vicente Benavides”
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Foreign Nationals
,Mar 14, 2018
California Supreme Court Grants New Trial to Man Sent to Death Row 25 Years Ago by False Forensic Evidence
The California Supreme Court has vacated the conviction of Vicente Figueroa Benavides (pictured), saying that the forensic evidence that sent the former Mexican farmworker to death row 25 years ago was “extensive,” “pervasive,” “impactful,” and “false.”
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Women
,Jul 31, 2019
Federal Appeals Court Overturns Mother’s Conviction in Texas Child Murder Case That May Have Been an Accidental Death
Citing trial court interference in her right to present a defense, a federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of a Texas mother who was sentenced to death on charges that she had murdered her two-year-old daughter. In an unpublished, unsigned opinion issued on July 29, 2019, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that trial court rulings that blocked Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (pictured) from calling an expert witness to challenge the reliability of statements she gave to police violated Lucio’s right…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Foreign Nationals
,Apr 18, 2018
Vicente Benavides, Sentenced to Death by False Forensics, to Be Freed After 26 Years on Death Row
Mexican national Vicente Figueroa Benavides (pictured), wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in Kern County, California for supposedly raping, sodomizing, and murdering his girlfriend’s 21-month-old daughter, will soon be freed after nearly 26 years on death row. He will be the 162nd person and fifth foreign national exonerated from a U.S. death row since 1973.