Daniel Saldana was convicted of attempted murder in 1990, but evidence surfaced that he wasn’t even at the scene.
A California man who spent 33 years in prison for attempted murder has been acquitted and released after it was revealed he wasn’t even at the scene of the attack.
Daniel Saldana, now 55, was convicted of shooting into a car after a high school football game in Baldwin Park, east of Los Angeles, in 1990. Inside were six teenagers, two of whom were injured but survived.
Authorities said the attackers mistook the teens for gang members.
Saldana, 22 at the time of the shooting, was working full-time as a construction worker and was one of three people charged with the attack. Saldana was convicted of six counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting an occupied vehicle and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for life.
Saldana attended a press conference announcing his acquittal on Thursday with District Attorney George Gascon. He said he was grateful for his release.
“Every day I wake up and find myself in a cell here, screaming for help,” Saldana said, according to the Southern California News Group.
“I’m really happy that this day has come,” he added.
Gascon said the investigation into Saldana’s case began when another convicted assailant told authorities during a parole hearing in 2017 that Saldana “was not involved in any way in the shooting and It started in February after the District Attorney’s Office found out that he was not present during the incident.”
The former deputy district attorney attended the hearings but said he “clearly did nothing”, adding that he did not share innocuous information with Saldana or his lawyers when necessary.
As a result, Saldana spent another six years in prison before the public prosecutor’s office reopened the case and declared him not guilty, Gascon said.
The district attorney did not provide other details of the incident, but apologized to Saldana and her family.
“I know this won’t bring back the decades I endured in prison,” he said. “However, we hope that our apology will give you some comfort as you begin your new life.”
Gascon added, “Not only is this a tragedy that forces people into prison for crimes they didn’t commit, but every time a wrongful act of this magnitude occurs, the real responsible are still on the scene. Go out and commit another crime,” he added.
