A man convicted of attempted murder in the United States has been found innocent and released after serving 33 years in prison, the Los Angeles County Attorney announced Thursday.
Daniel Saldana, 55, was convicted in 1990 of shooting at a car carrying six teenagers as they exited a football game at a high school in Baldwin Park, east of Los Angeles, on the west coast of the United States. Two students were injured but survived.
Saldana, one of three men charged with the attack, was 22 at the time of the shooting and worked full-time as a construction worker. He was one of three men charged with the attack.
DA Gascón joined Daniel Saldaña and his loved ones today to announce and celebrate his return home. Mr. Saldaña spent 33 years in prison after she was released # Wrongly convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 45 years to life in 1990. pic.twitter.com/Kl2gFdcxeF
– George Gascon (@LADAOffice) May 25, 2023
“So happy”: man declared innocent after 33 years in US prison https://t.co/KFhEBac1Wp
– Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 26, 2023
Prosecutor apologized
Convicted of six counts of attempted murder and one shooting into an occupied vehicle, Saldana was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison.
At a Thursday press conference with prosecutor George Gascón, Saldana said he was grateful to have been released.
“It’s a struggle waking up every day knowing you’re innocent and locked up in a cell,” he added.
Gascón’s office began investigating in February after another convict told authorities at a hearing in 2017 that Saldana was “in no way involved in the shooting and was not present at the incident,” the lawyer said.
A former deputy prosecutor was at the hearing “but apparently did nothing” and did not share the information with Saldana or the lawyer, as required by law, Gascón said.
That led to Saldana serving another six years in prison, until the case was reopened and he was declared innocent, Gascón said, apologizing.
Source: DN
