Ciriya was acquitted on Monday, exactly 32 years after his arrest, after a thorough review and investigation by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Commission on Innocence, San Francisco District Attorney Cesa Budin said in an online statement.
The 61-year-old was convicted of murder in 1991 for the murder of Felix Bastarika. There was no physical evidence linking Ciri to the crime, but San Francisco police inspectors focused on it “based on rumors on the street and statements by driver George Varela,” according to the district attorney.
Bastarika was actually killed by a mutual acquaintance of Varela and Ciria, according to a press release from the Northern California Innocence Project.
In exchange for full immunity, Verala testified that he drove Ciri to and from the crime scene, but was under extreme pressure from police to identify Ciri at the time, although Ciria has two alibi witnesses who were never heard in the trial. said the district attorney.
“It’s very difficult, you know? To see your child; they’re taking your son away. It’s sad to see your child grow up alone,” Ciria’s mother Yojana Paiz told CNN’s KPIX affiliate. “But we are finally here. Now we are at the end. He will come out. Whatever God has for us, we must accept it.”
Since the beginning of Ciriya’s prison, Paiz said she has kept in touch with her son through regular visits and phone calls.
Ciria’s lawyer, Ellen Eggers, and the Northern California Innocence Project lawyer, Paige Caneb, took his case to the Prosecution’s Innocence Commission for review, and after a four-month investigation, Budin decided to acquit Ciria.
New evidence provided by the Ciriya legal team shows that he was convicted on the basis of false testimony for another man’s crime, the district attorney said. The Ciria case was the first to be reviewed by the Innocence Commission since its inception in 2020.
Stolen holidays and memories
“Promoting justice in our legal system requires us not only to move forward, but also to look back,” Buden said. “Incorrect sentences cause concentric circles of harm: those wrongfully convicted, victims of a false story and re-traumatized, jurors who have unknowingly participated in an injustice, and the integrity of the system as a whole. When someone is wrongly convicted, the prosecution is obliged to correct this injustice. “
Ciriya is currently in the San Francisco County Jail after being transported from Folsom Prison last week, Eggers told CNN and is expected to be released within a week.
Under California law, Ciriya is entitled to $ 140 a day in financial compensation for 32 years in prison, amounting to just over $ 1.6 million, according to the California Victims’ Compensation Council.
“As a result of this wrongful sentence, the state stole 32 birthdays, 32 Christmases, 32 years in which he could not be with his son for all the special moments,” Kaneb said in an online statement. “After all, Joaquin has kept his big heart and easy smile and is full of joy as he looks forward to starting his life again.”
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