Anthony Vasquez is serving a 29 to life sentence and has been incarcerated for 26 years for a crime he did not commit. Prosecutors accused him of murdering a man, completely ignoring the arguments proving his innocence. In addition, recently a key witness and a surviving victim of the attack completely retracted their testimony, saying that they gave them under pressure from law enforcement agencies.
Late on the evening of August 20, 1994, Bernard Davis was sitting in a car with his girlfriend in front of his mother’s house. Closer to midnight, four men approached the car, and a minute later one of them ran up to the car from the passenger side and shot Davis, ordering him to go outside. A struggle began between the attacker and the wounded man, during which Davis’ girlfriend received a gunshot wound incompatible with life.
Davis later described the attackers to police officers who arrived at the scene. According to him, he described the assailants as dark African American, wearing dark clothing (top and bottom) with clean-shaven haircuts man dressed in dark clothes and without a beard.
After several weeks of investigation, law enforcement officers arrested Anthony Vasquez, accusing him of murder. Prosecutors ignored the alibi of a man who was roller skating with his friends that evening. This is confirmed by the recording from the surveillance camera, which shows how Vasquez being checked at 11:37 PM, 20 minutes before the incident.
Law enforcement officers were not confused by the fact that Anthony did not fit the description of the criminal compiled by the victim. Starting with the clothes he was wearing that day, ending with the color of his skin and facial hair, Vasquez did not meet any of the criteria described by Davis.
The prosecution’s strategy is based on two facts that seemed to the court sufficient to put an innocent person in prison:
- The key witness in the case, Vasquez’s best friend at the time, Daniel Hinton, immediately signed a cooperation agreement with the investigation to avoid being charged with committing a crime against himself. He repeatedly contradicted himself by testifying against Anthony.
- Bernard Davis’ statement that Anthony Vasquez may have been there.
And even despite these vague facts allegedly confirming Vasquez’s guilt, a key witness and victim recently recanted their testimony. Daniel Hinton said that he lied under oath and that Anthony Vasquez did not commit a crime for which he spent more than 26 years behind bars. Bernard Davis, in turn, stated that he had never actually claimed that Vasquez was the man who attacked him and his girlfriend a quarter of a century ago. According to him, he testified under pressure from the police.
Given the complete lack of evidence of Anthony’s guilt, the refusal of the key witness and the victim from their testimony and the large number of witnesses who confirm that they saw Anthony at the roller rink that night, the defense continues to seek a review of this controversial case. Friends and relatives of the victim of American justice have written an open appeal to the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, demanding a re-investigation and the return of an innocent man home.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice support the defense of Anthony Vasquez, who spent more than 25 years behind bars for a crime he clearly did not commit. The fight against arbitrariness on the part of law enforcement officials is the first step towards an honest justice system, ensuring a fair trial and opposing tyranny.