USA
Innocent inmate released from US prison after 33 years
Daniel Saldana after his release. False convictions are common in the United States.
© Uncredited / LA District Attorney’s Office / AP / DPA
Daniel Saldana spent 33 years in a US prison for murder – although he hadn’t killed anyone. He has now been released from prison. The judicial system failed in his case, the district attorney said.
A California inmate has been found innocent and released 33 years after being convicted of attempted murder. Daniel Saldana – now 55 years old – was wrongly sent behind bars, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón told the press on Thursday. The legal system failed in his case.
USA: Prisoner sat innocently 33 years in prison – now he is free
Saldana was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison in 1990. Two other people were in court with the 22-year-old at the time. They allegedly shot six high school students in a vehicle in Los Angeles who were mistaken for gang members. Two of the victims were injured, no one died. Saldana has always maintained his innocence.
At a 2017 hearing, one of the co-convicts claimed he was responsible for the shooting and that Saldana was not even at the scene. However, this exculpatory statement was not passed on at the time, but was only sent to the authorities in February of this year, the public prosecutor said.
He was grateful to be alive, Saldana told journalists on Thursday, surrounded by his family. “It’s been a struggle waking up every day knowing you’re innocently locked in a cell.” He had no means and no money to take action, Saldana said. But he always believed that “the day” would come.