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Jesus Avila was convicted of attempted murder in 1990 in the shooting of Demetrius Kidd.  The shooting occurred at a baby shower gathering in Ham Park.  Jesus' original lawyer, George Denny, became convinced that Jesus’ brother, Ernesto, was the real shooter, after Ernesto apparently confessed to him.  But Denny never told anyone because he represented Ernesto in another matter and believed that he could not implicate him -- even if doing so might help clear Jesus.  While Denny wrestled with this dilemma, Ernesto and the Avila family gambled.  Rather than come forward and testify for his brother at the trial, Ernesto hoped that Jesus would win his freedom anyway.  "We thought Jesus would be acquitted and Ernesto would not have to go to jail either," said Christine Avila, their mother.

Denny withdrew from the case, citing an unspecified conflict of interest.  However, he never shared with Jesus’ new lawyer information he had on why Ernesto was the real shooter.  When police arrived at the shooting, Ernesto had fled.  Witnesses there identified Jesus as the person who most looked like the shooter.  At trial, Jesus’ new lawyer, presented witnesses who placed Jesus on the opposite side of the park at the time of the shooting.  Some remember him hitting the ground when shots were fired.  However, the prosecution witnesses prevailed.

On appeal in 1992, a judge heard sworn testimony that Ernesto was the guilty party, both from Ernesto and several other witnesses.  However, the judge declined to order a new trial for Jesus, saying later that he did not find Ernesto's admissions credible.  Eventually, however, Jesus was able to appeal to the federal Ninth Circuit Court, which overturned his conviction in July 2002.  (LA Times)  [10/07]

Diomedes Polonia was convicted of attempted murder for allegedly shooting Thomas Hosford three times in the course of a robbery.  The victim said Freddy Polonia was his shooter.  Pedro “Freddy” Polonia is Diomedes brother and bears a strong resemblance to him.  When police visited Diomedes’ apartment they believed they had found “Freddy.”  While in the hospital, the victim was shown fresh mug shots of Diomedes, whom he identified as “Freddy.”  Later, the victim further identified the wrong brother at a precinct station house line-up.

The actual Freddy signed a handwritten confession to the crime, but then reportedly fled to Puerto Rico.  He was later located in Massachusetts where he had been arrested for drug dealing and was making regular court appearances there.  A team of assistant DAs got in a car and drove up to Massachusetts, but Freddy invoked his right to counsel and silence.  Then, within days, Freddy fled again, reportedly on a plane out of Boston.  Diomedes’ conviction was eventually overturned and he was released in Jan. 2003, but only after his Legal Aid attorneys logged 1300 hours on the case, and Diomedes spent over 5 and a half years in prison.  (Law.com) [1/07]

John Grant Gillard was sentenced to death for shooting three people, killing two of them.  John’s brother, William Gillard, attended a New Year’s Eve party.  While there, Leroy Ensign beat William and forcibly ejected him from the party.  William returned later, after midnight, and fired a shot into the air.  Shortly thereafter, Ensign, Denise Maxwell, and Ron Postlethwaite were shot.  Ensign and Maxwell died.  Police put out an all points bulletin for a truck driven by William, the truck seen leaving the scene of the shootings.

Four hours after the shootings, the Ohio Highway Patrol caught William trying to flee the state.  He had high-velocity blood spatter on him that placed him within two feet of the victims at the moment they were shot.  Tests showed that blood spots found on him were consistent with all three victims.  Police did not issue an arrest warrant for his brother John until Jan 2.

Police later claimed they lost Postlethwaite’s original statement as to the identity of the shooter.  At trial, Postlethwaite identified John as the shooter.  Postlethwaite also testified that he had at least eight beers and was sleeping in a poorly lit room at the time of the shootings.  During trial, the state emphatically maintained that Postlethwaite identified John immediately after the shootings.  However, the lead investigator has since admitted that the investigation had focused originally on William.

John’s attorney, Louis Martinez, also represented William.  During John’s trial Martinez challenged the evidence against William, even though doing so prejudiced John.  William testified at John’s trial stating that he was not present at the shootings and he tried to explain away the physical evidence that implicated himself.  After entering into a plea agreement that allowed him to be immediately paroled, William testified at the trial of another man that he (William) was present when Ensign was shot, but fled prior to the other shootings.  (www.john-gillard.com)  [2/08]

Herrera was sentenced to death for murdering two police officers, David Rucker and Enrique Carrisalez.  The murders occurred at separate locations along a highway between Brownsville and Los Fresnos.  Enrique Hernandez, Carrisalez’ patrol car partner, identified Herrera.  Hernandez also said Herrera was only person in the car that they stopped.  Carrisalez, who did not die until 9 days after he was shot, identified Herrera from a single photo.  A license plate check showed that the stopped car belonged to Herrera’s live in girlfriend.

In 1984, after Herrera’s brother Raul was murdered, Raul’s attorney came forward and signed an affidavit stating that Raul told him he had killed Rucker and Carrisalez.  A former cellmate of Raul also came forward and signed a similar affidavit.  Raul’s son, Raul Jr., who was nine at the time of the killings, signed a third affidavit.  It averred that he had witnessed the killings.  Jose Ybarra, Jr., a schoolmate of the Herrera brothers, signed a fourth affidavit.  Ybarra alleged that Raul Sr. told him in 1983 that he had shot the two police officers.  Herrera alleged that law enforcement officials were aware of Ybarra’s statement and had withheld it in violation of Brady v. Maryland.  Armed with these affidavits, Herrera petitioned for a new trial, but was denied relief in state courts.  One court did dismiss Herrera’s Brady claim due to lack of evidence.  Herrera’s appeal eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was argued in Oct. 1992.

In Jan. 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that Herrera's actual innocence was not a bar to his execution.  He had to show that there were procedural errors in his trial in order to gain relief.  Justice Rehnquist wrote that the "presumption of innocence disappears" once a defendant has been convicted in a fair trial.  Dissenting Justice Blackmun wrote:  "The execution of a person who can show that he is innocent comes perilously close to simple murder."  Herrera was executed four months after the ruling on May 12, 1993.  (Herrera v. Collins)  [1/07]

Robert Angleton, also known as Bob, was a bookie who took bets on sporting events.  He was charged with murdering his 46-year-old wife, Doris.  Following the murder, Bob told police that he suspected his brother Roger was the killer.  Despite Roger’s checkered past, Bob had employed him in 1989.  He fired him less than a year later.  After being fired, Roger felt Bob owed him $200,000 and even tried to rob him of it at gunpoint.  Roger then threatened to put Bob out of business, by reporting him to the IRS.  Bob ignored him, but Roger started making phone calls to customers, posing as an IRS agent.

After realizing that Roger could ruin his bookmaking business, Bob started paying him $2500 a month.  While the payoffs worked for a while, in 1997 Roger demanded even more money.  Bob says he received a letter from Roger saying if he didn’t get the money, "I will hurt you in a way that will be with you for the rest of your life."  Bob ignored the letter, but six weeks later Doris was killed.

Roger had fled following the murder, but was arrested two months later in Las Vegas.  He had with him audiotapes of two men planning the murder.  Prosecutors believed the two men were Roger and Bob.  Roger claimed he was hired by Bob to murder Doris.  Prosecutors also learned that Doris had filed for divorce two months earlier.  Doris had an online lover that Bob said he was unaware of.  Prosecutors believe that Doris could have threatened to expose Bob’s bookmaking business in order to obtain a larger divorce settlement.

Shortly before a prosecutor was about to offer Roger a deal to testify against Bob in exchange for getting out of jail, Roger committed suicide in his cell.  Roger left a note stating that he had killed Doris on his own as an act of revenge, and that Bob was not involved.  The prosecutor convinced a judge that Roger’s note was unreliable hearsay, and therefore inadmissible.  The prosecutor hired an audio expert who had once worked for the FBI to analyze Roger’s tapes.  Contrary to the prosecutor’s hopes, the expert reported that he was “very confident” that Bob’s voice was not on the tapes.  After listening to the tapes, the jury thought the voices on it were too muffled to identify Bob’s voice.  They acquitted him.

While Roger was imprisoned, aspiring crime writer Vanessa Leggett visited him and made 50 hours of audiotapes of her interviews with Roger.  On them Roger pointed a finger at Bob and claimed that Roger had agreed to pay him $100,000 a year for ten years in exchange for killing Doris.  Roger claimed he taped his conversations with Bob as insurance in case Bob failed to pay up.  Armed with this new evidence, prosecutors planned to try Bob again, this time in federal court, three and a half years after his acquittal in state court.  Roger’s “dying declaration” suicide note would still be inadmissible, but his taped statements to Leggett would be admissible, even though Bob would be denied his constitutional right to confront Roger regarding their truthfulness.

Four days before his second trial was to begin, Bob, out on bail, boarded a plane and flew to Amsterdam.  He did not want to face the possibility of a conviction.  He carried with him $135,000 and a fake passport.  Dutch officials spotted the fake passport and took Bob into custody.  After the U.S. began extradition proceedings against him, Bob’s Dutch lawyers argued that international treaty protects against double jeopardy and prohibits the Dutch government from sending Bob back to face murder charges a second time.  Not only did a Dutch court agree, but so did the prosecutor.

Dutch courts eventually agreed to extradite Bob, but only after the U.S. filed new charges against Bob of passport and tax fraud and also agreed not prosecute him for murder.  Bob pleaded guilty to the new charges in 2004 and will be released from prison in 2014.  Bob’s two daughters have stood with him and have never believed he killed their mother.  The U.S. government says it has found a way to prosecute Bob again for murder upon his release from prison.  Leggett has written a pro-prosecution book about the case, entitled Murder by the Book.  It is expected to be released in 2007.  (48 Hours)  [2/07]