Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Gilbert Alejandro

 

Charge:

Sexual Assault (includes aggravated)

Sentence:

12 years

Years Imprisoned:

4

Year Crime:

1990

Year Convicted:

1990

Year Cleared:

1994

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Texas

County or Region of Crime:

Uvalde

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

"Gilbert Alejandro was wrongly convicted of aggravated sexual assault in October 1990 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. The victim identified Gilbert Alejandro and the prosecution's "expert witness" Fred Zain, testified at trial that DNA recovered from the victim matched Gilbert Alejandro, when the tests were actually inconclusive. Alejandro was exonerated when another DNA test positively excluded him as the assailant. His conviction was set-aside and the charges were dropped in September 1994. Alejandro was wrongly imprisoned for four years. Alejandro filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Bexar County, and on June 27, 1995 he was awarded $250,000."

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness Misidentification and erroneous expert forensic testimony by Fred Zain that his DNA matched the victim -- when the test was inconclusive.

Innocence Proved By:

DNA tests that were not conducted prior to his trial.

Defendant Aided By:

Innocence Project

Compensation Awarded:

"$250,000 (Bexar County, Texas, June 27, 1995)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

35

Age When Released:

39

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Hispanic

Information Source 1:

"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996), pp. 34-35."

Information Location 1:

http://www.dna.gov/case_studies/convicted_exonerated/

Information Source 2:

Innocence Project database

Information Location 2:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/case/display_profile.php?id=23

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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