Salvador Mendival

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Charge:	Robbery (includes armed robbery)
Sentence:	1 to 10 years
Years Imprisoned:	2
Year Crime:	1922
Year Convicted:	1922
Year Cleared:	1924
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	California
County or Region of Crime:	Los Angeles
City of Crime:	Arcadia
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Salvador Mendival, Jose Hernandez, and Broulio Galindo were Mexican codefendants wrongly convicted in 1922 of the robbery of a bank in Arcadia, California. Their prosecutions were based on erroneous eyewitness identifications. Their alibi defense was they were not at the crime scene, but only one alibi witness could be located to corroborate that Galindo was in San Gabriel at the time of the robbery. After their convictions by a jury, Galindo and Hernandez were sentenced on November 6, 1922 to 1 year to life in prison, and Mendival was sentenced on November 9, 1922 to San Quentin prison for one to ten years. Shortly after their convictions a man contacted the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office that Galindo, Hernandez, and Mendival were not involved in the hold-up, and identified the four men who were. At about the same time those four men were arrested in Los Angles for a liquor law violation, and one of the men had a U.S. bond that was taken during the Arcadia bank robbery. After more than a year of investigation the four men were indicted for the Arcadia bank robbery in early 1924, along with several other people indicted for various charges, including a former Los Angeles police officer who was indicted for receiving stolen goods. When the indictments were issued the LA DA sought to have Galindo, Hernandez, and Mendival pardoned on the basis of their actual innocence. Based on identication of the actual culprits, on May 2, 1924, Mendival was pardoned by California Governor Friend Richardson, Hernandez was pardoned on May 26, and Galindo was pardoned on September 30, 1924. None of the men were awarded compensation."
Conviction Caused By:	Eyewitness error
Innocence Proved By:	"Based on identication of the actual culprits, on May 2, 1924, Mendival was pardoned by California Governor Friend Richardson, Hernandez was pardoned on May 26, and Galindo was pardoned on September 30, 1924."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	No
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Hispanic
Information Source 1:	"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932, pp. 55-58"
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Salvador Mendival

Charge:

Robbery (includes armed robbery)

Sentence:

1 to 10 years

Years Imprisoned:

2

Year Crime:

1922

Year Convicted:

1922

Year Cleared:

1924

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

California

County or Region of Crime:

Los Angeles

City of Crime:

Arcadia

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error

Innocence Proved By:

"Based on identication of the actual culprits, on May 2, 1924, Mendival was pardoned by California Governor Friend Richardson, Hernandez was pardoned on May 26, and Galindo was pardoned on September 30, 1924."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

No

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Hispanic

Information Source 1:

"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932, pp. 55-58"

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