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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
99 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
6 |
Year Crime: |
1991 |
Year Convicted: |
1992 |
Year Cleared: |
2016 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Texas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Pecos |
City of Crime: |
Fort Stockton |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Sonia Cacy was wrongly convicted of murder in the death of her uncle Bill Richardson as the result of a fire in her Fort Stockton, Texas home in 1991. Cacy's conviction was based on expert testimony that the fire was caused by gasoline found on the clothes Richardson was wearing at the time of the fire. Richardson smoked up to three packs of cigarettes a day. After his conviction by a jury Cacy was sentenced to 55 years in prison. Cacy's conviction was affirmed in 1995. In 1996 chemist Gerald Hurst began a post-conviction investigation that discovered evidence the 76-year-old Richardson died of a heart attack while he was smoking in bed. It was also discovered the prosecution's arson investigators disregarded the multiple cigarette burns on Richardson's sheets and around his bed. The new evidence emphasized the importance of the disregarding finding of the autopsy report that Richardson had no smoke in his lungs, so he was dead at the time of the fire. If Richardson died of a heart attack while smoking, the fire likely started from a dropped cigarette. In 1997 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the lower appeal court's denial of Cacy's direct appeal. Cacy filed a habeas petition based on the new evidence casting doubt on her conviction, and after an evidentiary hearing was held during which Hurst testified, she was denied a new trial, but granted a new sentencing hearing. A jury was empanelled, and increased her punishment to 99 years in prison. Relying on the evidence detailed in her habeas petition, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles took the unusual step in 1998 of granting her parole after she had only served six years of her sentence. In 2011 the Texas Forensic Science Commission issued a report condemning the arson science used in the Cameron Todd Willingham case and recommended a review of other cases investigated by the state fire marshal’s office. (Willingham was executed in 2008 based on now debunked arson evidence.) In July 2014 Cacy filed a writ of habeas corpus that among its claim asserted she was actually innocent. Her petition relied on the 2011 Texas FSC report, and the new evidence that the lab report relied on by the prosecution had been written by a lab technician who falsified the evidence receipt for Richardson's clothes, and that the initial lab tests of his clothing by another technician at the Bexar County Forensic Science Center detected no accelerants on his clothes. The trial judge recommended the granting of her petition after the new evidence was presented during an evidentiary hearing. The State appealed. On November 2, 2016 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Sonia Cacy's habeas corpus petition on the basis the evidence in her petition and that was presented during her evidentiary hearing had proved her actual innocence by clear and convicing evidence. Two of the justices concurred in granting habeas relief, but they dissented from the opinion of the other six justices that she had proved her actual innocence by clear and convincing evidence." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Unreliable expert testimony that the fire was deliberately caused by gasoline. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On November 2, 2016 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Sonia Cacy's habeas corpus petition on the basis new expert evidence established there was no presence of accellerant, and autopsy evidence established he had no smoke in his lungs, so he was dead at the time of the fire, and he likely died of a heart attack and the fire started from a dropped cigarette. On November 2, 2016 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Sonia Cacy's habeas corpus petition on the basis the evidence in her petition and that was presented during her evidentiary hearing had proved her actual innocence by clear and convicing evidence. Two of the justices concurred in granting habeas relief, but they dissented from the opinion of the other six justices that she had proved her actual innocence by clear and convincing evidence." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
44 |
Age When Released: |
50 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
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Information Source 1: |
"Ex Parte Sonia Cacy, No. WR-85,420-01 (Tex. Court of Criminal Appeals 11-2-2016) (Granting habeas corpus petition on the basis of new forensic evidence her uncle did not die as the result of arson.)" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=c5d87957-664e-47c0-8a1e-71d85b3a0204&coa=coscca&DT=OPINION&MediaID=b1ded142-6f7b-46d6-ad7c-3fb7d5c39036 |
Information Source 2: |
"Ex Parte Sonia Cacy, No. WR-85,420-01 (Tex. Court of Criminal Appeals 11-2-2016) (Conccuring opinion by J. Yeary joined by P.J. Keller that Cacy should be granted a new trial, but dissenting from the six majority justices opinion that she had proved by clear and convincing evidence that she was actually innocent. Granting habeas corpus petition on the basis of new forensic evidence her uncle did not die as the result of arson.)" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=c5d87957-664e-47c0-8a1e-71d85b3a0204&coa=coscca&DT=OPINION&MediaID=b1ded142-6f7b-46d6-ad7c-3fb7d5c39036 |
Information Source 3: |
"Sonia Cacy found innocent in old arson-murder case, By Chuck Lindell (American-Statesman Staff), Austin American-Statesman, November 2, 2016" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.statesman.com/news/sonia-cacy-found-innocent-old-arson-murder-case/EMNqdtByUWR84oEmWWOTPO/ |
Information Source 4: |
"25 Years After Junk Science Conviction, Texas Finally Admits Sonia Cacy’s Innocence, By Jordan Smith, The Intercept, November 4 2016" |
Information Location 4: |
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/04/25-years-after-junk-science-conviction-texas-finally-admits-sonia-cacys-innocence/ |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org