|
Location |
Defendant(s) |
Date of Alleged Crime |
| Bernalillo
County, NM |
Albuquerque Four |
Feb 8, 1974 |
|
Thomas
Gladish, Richard Greer, Ronald Keine, and Clarence Smith were members of the
Vagos motorcycle gang in Los Angeles, CA. They were all convicted and
sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of William Velten, Jr., a
University of New Mexico student. Velten was allegedly killed on Feb.
8, 1974 and his body was found on Feb 13 in the Manzano foothills east of
Four Hills. The prosecution's key witness was a motel maid named
Judith Weyer, who claimed that she witnessed the crime. The four men were
in Los Angeles at the time of the murder. About six months after their
convictions, Weyer admitted that her testimony was fabricated and said she
had been coached and pressured by the police and prosecutors. Nonetheless,
the trial court refused to order a new trial. Several months later, the men
were granted a new trial after another man, Kerry Rodney Lee, confessed to
having committed the murder. Based on this confession and evidence
corroborating it, charges against the four were dropped and they were
released in 1976. The men were aided by the Detroit News, which spent
$75,000 to help establish their innocence. [7/05] |
| Bernalillo
County, NM |
Van Bering Robinson |
Sept 10, 1980 |
|
Van Bering
Robinson was
convicted of murdering Albuquerque Police Officer Phil Chacon. Chacon
was gunned down at Wyoming and Central while responding to a robbery report at a shoe store.
Robinson was exonerated in
1983 after it was found that three Albuquerque police officers falsified
information to frame him for the murder. Robinson was awarded $75,000 in
1985. [9/05] |
| Eddy
County, NM |
Terry Seaton |
1971 (Carlsbad) |
|
Terry
Seaton was
convicted murdering a Carlsbad baker. The baker was castrated, and
cooking oil was poured over him before his body was burned. Seaton was
prosecuted even though he passed a polygraph test. Another man had confessed to the murder, and the key
witness against Seaton had failed a polygraph test, but this evidence was
withheld from Seaton's defense at trial. There was also evidence that
Seaton had burglarized a men's clothing store in Clovis and could not have
traveled to Carlsbad in time for the murder. Seaton was released in 1979
after this newly acquired and presented
evidence cast strong doubt on his guilt. He was awarded $118,000 in 1983
for his wrongful arrest plus another $217,500 in fees for his attorneys.
(Albuquerque Journal) (MOJIPCC) [2/10] |
| Eddy County, NM |
Ralph Rodney Earnest |
Feb 12, 1982 |
|
Ralph Rodney Earnest
was convicted of murdering 31-year-old David Eastman, an oil field worker
who was killed near Carlsbad, NM. Eastman's body was found on Feb. 12,
1982 in a ditch beside N.M. 31. At Earnest's trial, his two
co-defendants, Perry Conner and Phillip Boeglin, were called to testify.
Conner testified that while he and Boeglin committed the crime, Earnest was
not involved. Boeglin refused to testify, even though he was given
immunity from the use of his testimony and was held in contempt of court for
his refusal to testify. The prosecution then introduced into evidence
a taped recoding and a transcript of a unsworn statement made by Boeglin to
police on the day of his arrest. In the statement Boeglin admitted
that he attempted to cut Eastman's throat, but he implicated both Conner and
Earnest, stating Earnest shot Eastman in the head.
In 2007, the New Mexico Supreme Court overturned Earnest's conviction
because he was denied the opportunity to cross-examine Boeglin regarding the
taped statement and was thereby deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to confront
an accuser. The prosecution had to drop charges against Eastman because Boeglin again refused to testify. (Albuquerque
Journal) (AJ2) (Earnest
v. Dorsey) [2/10] |
| Union County, NM |
Francisco Garcia |
Convicted 1913 |
|
Francisco Garcia was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing a man
in a saloon. According to N.M. Supreme Court, "Francisco Garcia, one
of the defendants, became engaged in an altercation with the deceased,
whereupon deceased shot Garcia and he fell to the floor, and remained there,
unconscious, during the whole of the remainder of the difficulty.
Cipriano Garcia, his brother, was at the time at the back end of the saloon
where the difficulty occurred, and took no part in the same up to this time.
Upon hearing the shot and seeing his brother fall to the floor, he rushed to
his rescue, encountered the deceased, and killed him. No proof of
concerted action on the part of the brothers is shown." The Court
found that Francisco was not entitled to relief from his conviction because
his counsel failed to ask the trial judge to instruct the jury to acquit his
client. Nevertheless, at a rehearing the Court used its discretion to
overturn Francisco's conviction "because the evidence conclusively
establishes his innocence." Charges against Francisco were
subsequently dropped. (State v.
Garcia) (MOJIPCC) [7/09] |
|