Wrongfully convicted murder suspect sues LA County for withholding evidence

Alexander Torres, 40, was exonerated with the help of the Innocence Project after evidence surfaced in 2006 that pointed to another person who was responsible for shooting a rival gang member in the suburban city of Paramount.

On Dec. 31, 2000, Martin Guitron was shot to death by a man belonging to another gang resembling Torres who jumped out of a car. Torres, who was a gang member at the time, got into a fight with Guitron after a car belonging to Torres’s mother was vandalized

Detectives served a search warrant on Torres’s home the following month, using a battering ram to break down the door. The occupants were rounded up, including a 15-month-old toddler, and taken to a Sheriff’s Department station. Torres was interrogated about his immigration status and told that his mother could be deported if he did not cooperate, according to Torres’s attorney.

No physical evidence connected Torres to the crime, but he was convicted of second degree murder with the use of a gun and sentenced to 40 years to life.

Five years later, a private investigator tracked down the driver of the car, who said Torres was not involved. This was in line with Torres’s statements at the time that he was home when the shooting happened.

filmingcops.com