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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Third-degree Rape |
Sentence: |
5 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
3.2 |
Year Crime: |
1994 |
Year Convicted: |
1994 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Kentucky |
County or Region of Crime: |
Henderson |
City of Crime: |
Henderson |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Juan Carlos Gonzales-Barboza was wrongly convicted on September 23, 1996 of raping a 14-year-old girl at a party in Henderson, Kentucky on June 14, 1994. His prosecution was based on his identification of the victim. Juan Gonzales-Barboza pled guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. Upon his release on parole on August 29, 1997, Gonzales-Barboza was taken into custody by federal immigration agents and he was deported as an illegal alien. Gonzales-Barboza was arrested in Springdale, Arkansas in June 2012 for driving without a license, and his criminal record and his status as an illegal alien resulted in him being charged with illegal entry by an aggravated felon. He pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Arkansas and was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison. His 1996 felony conviction increased the severity of the federal crime he was in the United States illegally. Sperm recovered from the girl in 1994 had never been tested, and with the assistance of the Kentucky Innocence Project it was tested and Gonzales-Barboza was excluded as the source. In July 2013 he filed a post-conviction petition for a new trial based on the new exclusionary evidence. The Henerson County DA opposed the petition on the basis it was barred by the statute of limitations and Gonzales-Barboza had no justifiable reason for not having sought the testing at the time of his prosecution. In August 2013 Henderson County Circuit Court Judge Karen Wilson denied the petition. Gonzales-Barboza appealed. On December 2015 the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed Judge Wilson's ruling and ordered a new trial. Gonzales-Barboza's motion to dismiss the charge was granted on March 21, 2017." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"In July 2013 Gonzales-Barboza filed a post-conviction petition for a new trial based on the new exclusionary evidence. The Henerson County DA opposed the petition on the basis it was barred by the statute of limitations and Gonzales-Barboza had no justifiable reason for not having sought the testing at the time of his prosecution. In August 2013 Henderson County Circuit Court Judge Karen Wilson denied the petition. Gonzales-Barboza appealed. On December 2015 the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed Judge Wilson's ruling and ordered a new trial. Gonzales-Barboza's motion to dismiss the charge was granted on March 21, 2017." |
Defendant Aided By: |
Post-conviction by Kentucky Innocence Project. |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
23 |
Age When Released: |
26 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Hispanic |
Information Source 1: |
"Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Juan Carlos Gonzales-Barboza, No. 2013-CA-001651-MR (KY Ct. of Appeals, Dec. 11, 2015) (Granting post-conviction petition and ordering new trial.)" |
Information Location 1: |
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/court-of-appeals/2015/2013-ca-001651-mr.html |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org