“It has been a long legal process for these women and our office has worked with the defense to ensure justice was done in this case. The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, welcomed the decision. That they deserve to be exonerated,” Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge David Newell wrote in the majority opinion. “Those defendants have won the right to proclaim to the citizens of Texas that they did not commit a crime. ![]() The ruling overturns their convictions, prevents further prosecutions and paves the way for the women to potentially seek millions of dollars in compensation from the state. The women refused plea deals and took the rare step of testifying in their defense to say they had done no wrong.Īfter years of fighting to clear their names, the state’s highest court exonerated them on Wednesday, saying they had achieved the “Herculean” task of proving their innocence. They had recently come out as lesbians and prosecutors used their sexuality as a motive. They spent nearly 15 years in prison for a crime so unspeakable they simply became known as the “San Antonio Four.”Įlizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez were convicted in the late 1990s of gang-raping two little girls who were Ramirez’s nieces.
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