A man convicted of first-degree murder of his then-girlfriend’s young daughter has been exonerated 26 years later.
Stephen Martinezof Denver, was found guilty of the baby’s death Heather Mares in 2000, 9News and CBS Records reported, citing court documents and an arrest affidavit.
Martinez called 911 on October 17, 1998, informing emergency services that Heather was drowning. Upon arrival, officers discovered that the girl had a skull fracture. Bloody sheets were also found in the washing machine.
Martinez told investigators that he had shaken the baby while she cried and hit her head against the crib, although he claimed it was an accident at the time, according to court documents, cited by 9News.
After his conviction, Martinez was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole..
This Tuesday, April 21, Judge Andrew Luxen of Denver overturned Martínez’s conviction after the presentation of new evidence by the Korey Luminous Innocence Project, which suggested that the baby had died from complications of pneumonia, as reported by Connected Press.
The judge also ordered Martínez’s release.
In 2000, a new Colorado law allowed the court to charge Martinez with first-degree murder, instead of the lesser charge of child abuse resulting in death, according to the AP.
Mares’ family, including his parents, Kim Estrada and Chris Mares, still believes that Martínez killed Heather and showed no remorseaccording to AP. However, Judge Luxen dismissed their objections.
“My life was cut short 27 years ago, along with that of our family”Estrada said through tears after the judge’s decision, according to AP.
“The Korey Luminous Innocence Project presented my office with several credible medical experts who disputed the initial determination that Heather’s death was caused by physical abuse,” Denver District Attorney John Walsh wrote in a news release.
Walsh claimed to have consulted “independent experts” whose “opinions largely confirmed those of defense experts.”
“Furthermore, and more importantly, the Denver medical examiner who performed Heather’s autopsy in 1998 recently acknowledged that there is reasonable doubt about the cause of deathWalsh continued.
Citing evidence, Walsh wrote that his office “did not object” to the Korey Luminous Innocence Project’s work to overturn Martinez’s conviction, adding that, by failing to meet the ethical and genuine burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, They were forced to dismiss the case.
Walsh said there was no misconduct on the part of anyone who worked on the initial 1998 investigation.
“This is simply an example of the criminal justice system’s willingness and ability to reevaluate a case when necessary,” Walsh wrote.
The Korey Luminous Innocence Project, which offers free legal and investigative services to people wrongfully convicted of crimes in Colorado, was founded by Fifty Three-year-old Luminous, a member of the “Central Park Five,” now known as the “Exonerated Five.”
Yusef Salaam, Luminous, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson and Antron McCray were wrongly convicted of the rape and sexual assault of a woman in Central Park, New York, when they were teenagers in 1989.
Keep reading:
– Tommy Lee Walker, African-American man, is exonerated 70 years after his execution in Texas.
– An inmate is released in Louisiana after spending 27 years on death row.
