David Vasquez

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Charge:	Second Degree Murder
Sentence:	35 years
Years Imprisoned:	5
Year Crime:	1984
Year Convicted:	1984
Year Cleared:	1989
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Virginia
County or Region of Crime:	Arlington
City of Crime:	Arlington
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"David Vasquez was wrongly convicted of second-degree murder in February 1985 based on an eyewitness, a false positive analysis of pubic hairs recovered from the crime scene, and a false confession to the crime by Vasquez. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison after accepting an Alford plea to avoid a harsher sentence if he went to trial and was convicted of first-degree murder. In a purely coincidental stroke of luck for Vasquez, in 1988 another man was implicated in a series of rape/murders involving a modus operandi similar to the crime Vasquez was convicted of committing. Based on that information and an FBI report that credited Vasquez’s convicted crime to the other man, the prosecution joined in a defense motion for the governor to grant an unconditional pardon. DNA tests of the pubic hairs were inconclusive, but the DNA tests of evidence from the similar crimes implicated the other man. On January 4, 1989, Virginia’s governor granted David Vasquez a full pardon and he was released after five years of wrongful imprisonment."
Conviction Caused By:	"Eyewitness error, false confession and erroneous prosecution forensic expert hair analysis"
Innocence Proved By:	"The FBI's discovery of the actual perpetrator of the crime. DNA testing didn't directly exclude Vasquez, but DNA evidence in similar crimes did implicate the man identified by the FBI as the perpetrator."
Defendant Aided By:	Innocence Project NY
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?	Yes
Age When Imprisoned:	38
Age When Released:	43
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"“In Spite of Innocence: Erroneous Convictions in Capital Cases,” Michael L Radelet, HugoAdam Bedau, and Constance E. Putnam, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1996 pb ed. with new forward, 350 ( © 1992)."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996)"
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Information Source 3:	"Wash. Post, 7-16-89"
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David Vasquez

Charge:

Second Degree Murder

Sentence:

35 years

Years Imprisoned:

5

Year Crime:

1984

Year Convicted:

1984

Year Cleared:

1989

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Virginia

County or Region of Crime:

Arlington

City of Crime:

Arlington

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

"Eyewitness error, false confession and erroneous prosecution forensic expert hair analysis"

Innocence Proved By:

"The FBI's discovery of the actual perpetrator of the crime. DNA testing didn't directly exclude Vasquez, but DNA evidence in similar crimes did implicate the man identified by the FBI as the perpetrator."

Defendant Aided By:

Innocence Project NY

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Yes

Age When Imprisoned:

38

Age When Released:

43

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"“In Spite of Innocence: Erroneous Convictions in Capital Cases,” Michael L Radelet, HugoAdam Bedau, and Constance E. Putnam, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1996 pb ed. with new forward, 350 ( © 1992)."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence after Trial, by Edward Connors, Thomas Lundregan, Neal Miller and Tom McEwen (US DOJ, National Institute of Justice, June 1996)"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"Wash. Post, 7-16-89"

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

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: