A poor investigation carried out by Los Angeles Police Department officers led to an unjust sentence of 12 years in prison for Rubén Martínez Jr., now the affected person and his wife will receive one of the largest financial compensations ever paid for an agreement of this type; Araceli Martínez Ortega offered us details of this news in La Opinión Hoy.
“If a very sad story, with a happy ending (…), how many innocent people will be serving sentences for crimes they did not commit, it is about a Hispanic, Mr. Rubén Martínez Jr. who spent 12 years in prison in California, sentenced to almost 50 years, to be exact 47 years and 8 months for a series of crimes of which he was accused that he did not committhey involved him in several armed robberies that took place between December 2005 and May 2007 in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles in a workshop,” Martínez Ortega explained.
He also highlighted that “they were robberies at a mechanical workshop, but due to the great physical resemblance he had to the person responsible, eyewitnesses identified him as the criminal and at the trial, because his arguments, his arguments, were not well presented by the defense, which led to twelve members of the jury finding him guilty and sentencing him to 47 years in prison. (…) in 2006 and he had just gotten married so he had not finished enjoying his honeymoon when they put him in jail.”
Ruben stated that “I worked in Studio City. The crimes took place in Boyle Heights, and I didn’t have a car. They also did not investigate people who could testify that I was at work,” he said.
“Ruben Martinez was exonerated thanks to the heroic efforts of his wife Maria and his unwavering faith, but this civil case uncovered rampant misconduct by numerous officers and supervisors throughout this investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. ”said Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann, partner at Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP.
“Detective Eagleson pressed key witnesses to identify me in a lineup. After two trials, for this and other false evidence, I was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 47 years and 8 months. Today we can finally correct this mistake,” said Rubén.
“This case caught our attention because it involved an inmate who was not represented by an attorney, which is a powerful example that we need conviction review units,” Los Angeles County Prosecutor Jackie Lacey said at the time.
Martínez’s lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles included officers and detectives Anthony Razo, Salvador Lizarraga, William Eagleson, Gilbert Silva, Jesus Linn and Marilyn Droz.
“There is a lot of pain, nothing can repair it, the only thing here is that they were a little sad that heThe police and investigators who carried out the process, the investigations, the investigations that convicted him, apparently continue in their positions as if nothing had happened, at the end of the day this money with which he is compensated is everyone’s money. Those of us who pay taxes in the city of Los Angeles and it is very unfair, good for Rubén who is going to receive it, but unfair for those who make mistakes to continue in their positions and at the end of the day the ones who pay for the damage are the taxpayers and I hope that it also leads to the investigations being more strict and consistent. to the facts so that these types of situations are not repeated,” said Martínez Ortega.
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