Jorge De Los Santos

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	8
Year Crime:	1975
Year Convicted:	1975
Year Cleared:	1983
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	New Jersey
County or Region of Crime:	Essex
City of Crime:	Newark
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Jorge De Los Santos was wrongly convicted in 1975 of the murder of Robert Thomas, a used car salesman in Newark, New Jersey. Jorge Santos was convicted on the basis of testimony by a "jailhouse snitch." On July 26, 1983 U.S. District Court Judge Frederick B. Lacey vacated Santos' conviction based on evidence concealed from his trial lawyer that established the prosecution's key witness -- the jailhouse snitch -- committed perjury in implicating Santos in the crime. Lacey's ruling stated that the prosecution's case "reeked of perjury." After eight years of imprisonment Santos was released the next day, on July 27, 1983, on $10,000 bond posted by the National Council of Churches in New York. Santos was the first person exonerated with the assistance of Centurion Ministries."
Conviction Caused By:	Perjury by the prosecution's key witnesses.
Innocence Proved By:	"On July 26, 1983 U.S. District Court Judge Frederick B. Lacey vacated Santos' conviction based on evidence concealed from his trial lawyer that established the prosecution's key witnesses committed perjury in implicating Santos in the crime."
Defendant Aided By:	Centurion Ministries
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	30
Age When Released:	38
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Hispanic
Information Source 1:	Centurion Ministries website
Information Location 1:	http://www.centurionministries.org/cases.html
Information Source 2:	""Lifer Savors Freedom as Essex Mulls a Retrial," Guy Sterling, The Star Ledger, July 28, 1983."
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Jorge De Los Santos

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

8

Year Crime:

1975

Year Convicted:

1975

Year Cleared:

1983

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New Jersey

County or Region of Crime:

Essex

City of Crime:

Newark

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Perjury by the prosecution's key witnesses.

Innocence Proved By:

"On July 26, 1983 U.S. District Court Judge Frederick B. Lacey vacated Santos' conviction based on evidence concealed from his trial lawyer that established the prosecution's key witnesses committed perjury in implicating Santos in the crime."

Defendant Aided By:

Centurion Ministries

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

30

Age When Released:

38

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Hispanic

Information Source 1:

Centurion Ministries website

Information Location 1:

http://www.centurionministries.org/cases.html

Information Source 2:

""Lifer Savors Freedom as Essex Mulls a Retrial," Guy Sterling, The Star Ledger, July 28, 1983."

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Movie About Case:

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