Pedro Torres

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	75 years
Years Imprisoned:	0.58
Year Crime:	1984
Year Convicted:	1985
Year Cleared:	1985
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Texas
County or Region of Crime:	Harris
City of Crime:	Houston
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Pedro Torres was convicted in April 1985 of murdering Manuel Ortega in Houston, Texas. Torres was arrested in Dallas in late 1985 for drinking in public at a Dallas convenience store, and when police ran his name they found there was a murder warrant for a Pedro Torres. Torres told police and his lawyer that he had been at his laborers job at a Dallas iron works company on the day of the murder, but his lawyer didn't contact his lawyer or attempt to obtain his employment records. After a jury convicted Torres based on an eyewitness identification, Torres was sentenced to 75 years in prison, but he insisted he was in Dallas at the time of the murder. Judge Michael McSpadden told Torres "attorney to file a motion for a new trial because I wanted to see the work records." The records proved Torres was a work in Dallas, 250 miles from Houston at the time of the murder, and the roommate of the Pedro Torres who was suspected of the crime was contacted and provided new evidence that Torres was not the murder suspect. On April 27, 1985 Judge McSpadden reversed Torres conviction on the basis he was actually innocent because he couldn't have committed the crime in Houston because he was in Dallas."
Conviction Caused By:	Eyewitness error and mistaken identity
Innocence Proved By:	"On April 27, 1985 Judge McSpadden reversed Torres conviction on the basis he was actually innocent because he couldn't have committed the crime in Houston because he was in Dallas."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	36
Age When Released:	37
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Hispanic
Information Source 1:	"Judge Frees A Man Wrongly Convicted of Murder, By Associated Press, The New York Times, April 28, 1985, pg. 23"
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 163+."
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern School of Law
Information Location 3:	http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/FLATibbs.htm
Information Source 4:	In Spite of Innocence
Information Location 4:
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Pedro Torres

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

75 years

Years Imprisoned:

0.58

Year Crime:

1984

Year Convicted:

1985

Year Cleared:

1985

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Texas

County or Region of Crime:

Harris

City of Crime:

Houston

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Eyewitness error and mistaken identity

Innocence Proved By:

"On April 27, 1985 Judge McSpadden reversed Torres conviction on the basis he was actually innocent because he couldn't have committed the crime in Houston because he was in Dallas."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

36

Age When Released:

37

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Hispanic

Information Source 1:

"Judge Frees A Man Wrongly Convicted of Murder, By Associated Press, The New York Times, April 28, 1985, pg. 23"

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 163+."

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern School of Law

Information Location 3:

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/exonerations/FLATibbs.htm

Information Source 4:

In Spite of Innocence

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: