Man Found Not Guilty Of Attempted Murder After 33yrs In Jail

According to a Thursday statement from the Los Angeles County district attorney, a Californian man who was sentenced to 33 years in prison for attempted murder has been found innocent and released.

Having opened fire on a car carrying six adolescents as they were leaving a high school football game in Baldwin Park, east of Los Angeles, Daniel Saldana, then 55, was found guilty in 1990. Two pupils were hurt, but they are doing fine.

Authorities claim that the attackers believed the teenagers to be gang members.

At the time of the incident, Saldana was 22 years old and employed full-time in the construction industry. He was one of the three men responsible for the assault. Saldana was given a 45-year to life sentence in state prison after being found guilty of six charges of attempted murder and one count of shooting at an inhabited car.

In attendance alongside Saldana at the news announcement announcing his exoneration on Thursday was District Attorney George Gascón. He expressed his gratitude for being freed.

“It’s a struggle, every day waking up knowing you’re innocent and here I am locked up in a cell, crying for help,” Saldana said, according to the Southern California News Group.

“I’m just so happy this day came,” he added.

Gascón’s office began investigating after learning in February that another convicted attacker told authorities during a 2017 parole hearing that Saldana “was not involved in the shooting in any way and he was not present during the incident,” the DA said.

According to Gascón, a former deputy district attorney was present at the hearing “but apparently did nothing” and did not alert Saldana or his lawyer of the exonerating details as was necessary.

Due to this, Saldana was imprisoned for an additional six years before the district attorney’s office restarted the investigation and found him innocent, according to Gascón.

The district attorney apologized to Saldana and his family but withheld further information about the case.

He added, I know that this won’t bring you back the decades you endured in prison,” he said. “But I hope our apology brings some small comfort to you as you begin your new life.”

Gascón added: “Not only is this a tragedy to force people into prison for a crime they did not commit, but every time that an injustice of this magnitude takes place, the real people responsible are still out there to commit other crimes.”

Hhmmm…this is really hard to take in. 33yrs gone. We hope Saldana moves on and make good use his new life.