On Monday, February 5, 2007, Jeffrey Rodriguez, a 29 year old Santa Clara man, was freed after he served nearly six years in prison for a 2001 robbery he did not commit. The evidence against him consisted of the eyewitness testimony of the victim of the robbery, Carmelo Ramirez, and a spot on Jeffrey’s jeans that a Santa Clara criminalist testified was motor oil. The prosecution argued that the oil was transferred onto the jeans during the crime, which took place behind a Kragen store, a place where residents discard used oil.
Jeffrey Rodriguez was arrested the morning after the robbery when the victim, Carmela Ramirez, standing in line at the DMV, noticed Jeffrey Rodriguez standing in another line with his sister. Ramirez told police Jeffrey was the man who robbed her, and he was arrested.
Mistaken eyewitness identification is the leading cause of wrongful conviction and in this case, there were significant problems and inconsistencies in the eyewitness testimony. In the initial 911 call, the victim described the robber as clean-shaven, wearing black shoes and a black pullover sweater. In contrast, Jeffrey wore a goatee and his only shoes were white. When police searched his house they did not find a shirt matching the witness’s initial description but instead they seized a leather jacket that at trial, the victim testified was worn by the robber.
The only evidence supporting the eyewitness was the appearance of what could have been oil stains on Mr. Rodriguez’ pants and the testimony of a Santa Clara criminalist that the spot found on the jeans was indeed motor oil.
In Jeffrey Rodriguez’s first trial, his trial counsel called an expert witness to dispute the criminalists’ findings and called several alibi witnesses in Jeffrey’s defense. That trial ended in a hung jury, voting 11-1 for acquittal. At the second trial, the same defense attorney failed to call the expert because he said there was no money left to hire one. For reasons unknown, he did not call the alibi witnesses. Jeffrey was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life.
Appellate attorney Irma Castillo successfully won a new trial for Rodriguez after convincing the Sixth District Court of Appeal that his trial counsel had been ineffective. Public defender Andy Gutierrez was appointed to represent him and contacted Santa Clara University School of Law’s Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) for help. Curtis Macon, a student intern at NCIP, was assigned to work with Mr. Gutierrez.
Curtis Macon worked closely with Andy Gutierrez conducting extensive investigation and research including diagramming the discrepancies in the victims identification testimony and re-enacting the crime. Mr. Macon and Mr. Gutierrez had the jeans retested which showed that there was no oil on the pants. Mr. Macon and Mr. Gutierrez successfully used video forensic experts to prove that the jacket in the surveillance video was not the jacket that the police found in Jeffrey Rodriguez’ house. Thanks to this new exculpatory evidence, the charges against Jeffrey were dropped.
Please join us in congratulating appellate attorney Irma Castillo, public defender Andy Gutierrez who represented Jeffrey, and to NCIP law student Curtis Macon for his outstanding contribution to the investigation, research and formulation of the evidence that ultimately proved Jeffrey Rodriguez’ innocence.To read more about Jeffrey’s exoneration go to: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/16632868.htm
http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/2007/02/06/tainted-trials-stolen-justice/#more-1202
