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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
First Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
Death |
Years Imprisoned: |
12 |
Year Crime: |
2006 |
Year Convicted: |
2006 |
Year Cleared: |
2018 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Florida |
County or Region of Crime: |
Seminole |
City of Crime: |
Altamonte Springs |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Clemente Javier Aguirre-Jarquin aka Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin was an illegal alien from Honduras wrongly convicted in 2006 of the murders of two neighbors: 68-year-old Carol Bareis and her 47-year-old daughter Cheryl Williams in their home in Altamonte Springs, in Seminole County, Florida. The prosecution's case against Clemente Aguirre was based on the testimony of the victim's daughter and granddaughter, Samantha Williams. Aguirre admitted he lied that he wasn't at the crime scene, but his defense was he found the two women after they were dead, but he didn't report it to the police because as an illegal alien he was afraid he would be deported. After his conviction by a jury Aguirre was sentenced to death. In 2016 the Florida Supreme Court unanimously reversed Aguirre's conviction on direct appeal and ordered a new trial. In preparation for Aguirre's new trial DNA testing of blood at the crime scene found it matched Williams, and none matched Aguirre. The wife of Mark Van Sandt, Williams’s boyfriend at the time of the crime and her key alibi witness, was interviewed and she stated in an Affidavit that Van Sandt told her he saw Williams crawling out of his bedroom window on the night of the murders. There was also evidence that Williams confessed to the murders on different occasions to several people. Based on the new DNA evidence placing Williams at the crime scene, the new witness evidence undercutting her alibi of being with her boyfriend at the time of the murders, and the confession evidence, the Seminole County District Attorney's Office filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Aguirre "“based upon new evidence that materially affects the credibility of a critical State witness.” The motion was granted on November 5, 2018. Because of his status as an illegal alien Aguirre was transferred to the custody of ICE, but his lawyer said they were going to request that an immigration judge set a bond and allow Clemente to be released while his application for asylum proceeds. While his asylum request was pending, Aguirre-Jarquin filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on January 7, 2020 against the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, that alleged "Clemente's nightmare was the direct result of the failure of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office to conduct a constitutionally adequate investigation, free of ethnic stereotypes and false assumptions."" |
Conviction Caused By: |
Perjury by the prosecution's key witness. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"Based on the new DNA evidence placing Williams at the crime scene, and the new witness evidence undercutting her alibi of being with her boyfriend at the time of the murders, the Seminole County District Attorney's Office filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Aguirre "based upon new evidence that materially affects the credibility of a critical State witness." The motion was granted on November 5, 2018." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
26 |
Age When Released: |
38 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Hispanic |
Information Source 1: |
"Clemente Aguirre Exonerated From Florida's Death Row After DNA Implicates Prosecution Witness, Death Penalty Information Center, November 12, 2018" |
Information Location 1: |
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/7238?utm_source=WeeklyUpdate&utm_campaign=26a63b540f-weekly_update_2017_w41_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_37cc7e4461-26a63b540f-344697801 |
Information Source 2: |
"Someone else’s confession got Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin off death row. Now, he faces trial for his life — again, By Michael Williams (Reporter), Orlando Sentinel, October 12, 2018" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-clemente-aguirre-death-row-retrial-20181012-story.html |
Information Source 3: |
"Former death row inmate alleges biased probe in lawsuit, By Associated Press, Star-Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), January 7, 2020" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.startribune.com/former-death-row-inmate-alleges-biased-probe-in-lawsuit/566789002/ |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org