PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Aguirre-Jarquin thanked his lawyers, and praised the judge and his court deputies for treating him with respect. “Besides my mother, nobody believed me,” he said. He is the 28th person absolved from the death penalty in Florida — the state leading the country in death-row exonerations. Aguirre-Jarquin was convicted and sentenced to die in 2006 — based in part on the testimony of Samantha Williams. But in 2016, the state’s high court overturned his conviction and sentence due in part to testimony that she had repeatedly confessed to the killings. "
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"After his release Monday, Aguirre-Jarquin was asked if he had any message for Williams. His reply: “I forgive you.” “Now it’s on you and God,” he added."
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THE NEW (SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE) - FROM INNOCENCE PROJECT RELEASE: "In 2016, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously overturned Aguirre’s conviction and death sentence based on new evidence of innocence that his original jury never heard. The new evidence included DNA testing of multiple pieces of crime scene evidence that exculpated Aguirre and implicated another suspect—the victims’ daughter and granddaughter, Samantha Williams. The state Supreme Court also learned of evidence that, in the years after Aguirre’s trial, Samantha Williams confessed that she committed the murders to numerous friends and acquaintances who had no connection to Aguirre."
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SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY: (FROM INNOCENCE PROJECT RELEASE);
"Mr. Aguirre was nearly executed for a crime he didn’t commit,” said Joshua Dubin, one of Aguirre’s lead trial attorneys. “While we are overjoyed that his ordeal is finally over, the case of Clemente Aguirre should serve as a chilling cautionary tale about how dangerous it is when there is a rush to judgment in a capital case. Mr. Aguirre pleaded for the blood to be tested and thankfully his post-conviction attorneys got that done. So when the results of those tests revealed that Samantha Williams’ blood was found within inches of the victim’s blood, and that she repeatedly confessed that she committed the crime to multiple witnesses, it boggles the mind that Mr. Aguirre even faced the prospect of being sent back to death row a second time.”
https://www.innocenceproject.org/clemente-aguirre-exonerated/
STORY: "Prosecutors drop case against exonerated death-row inmate Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin," buy reporter Michael Williams, published by the Orlando Sentinel on November 6, 2018.
SUB-HEADING: "An exonerated former death row inmate took his first free steps Monday after years behind bars."
GIST: "Prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges Monday against Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin, a former death row inmate who was standing trial for a second time in two brutal Seminole County murders. Aguirre-Jarquin
spent nearly 15 years behind bars — including 10 on death row — for the
2004 stabbing deaths of Cheryl Williams and Carol Bareis in Altamonte Springs. The
decision by State Attorney Phil Archer’s office to drop the case came
two years after the Florida Supreme Court overturned Aguirre-Jarquin’s
conviction based on repeated confessions to the crimes by Samantha
Williams, Cheryl Williams’ daughter and Bareis’ granddaughter — and days
after new testimony surfaced that undermined her alibi. Aguirre-Jarquin walked out of a detention
facility Monday afternoon, hugging members of his legal team and
supporters. But his future remains unclear. On Friday, the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security placed an immigration hold on the
undocumented Honduran immigrant. He was released on bond Monday
afternoon.After his release, Aguirre-Jarquin wiped away tears as he told reporters that he was “very happy — very, very happy.” “To
be honest with you, I’m surprised it took this long because I’ve got an
amazing team of people who have worked hard… but I guess you have to
fight hard,” he said. “It’s harder to get out than to get in, I can
guarantee you that.” Aguirre-Jarquin also called his mother. His
lawyers say he planned to eat a large meal and have his first good
night’s rest in nearly 15 years. Despite the case against him
being dropped, he now faces the possibility of deportation. His lawyers
have said they will pursue an asylum claim on Aguirre-Jarquin’s behalf,
though experts say that would be an uphill battle. “If there were ever a person that deserved a chance to
become a United States citizen, it is Clemente Aguirre,” said Josh
Dubin, one of the lawyers representing Aguirre-Jarquin. Aguirre-Jarquin’s case drew the attention of criminal-justice
advocates from across the country. The Innocence Project, a nonprofit
legal aid group that seeks to identify and exonerate wrongly-convicted
people, later signed on to represent him."An innocent man was
almost executed for a crime he did not commit,” Dubin
said. “So let the case of Clemente Aguirre be a stunning cautionary
tale, a reminder that we need to take a long, hard look at all suspects,
especially when the evidence is crying out that another person
committed this crime. In this case, the evidence was screaming that
Samantha Williams is the true murderer.” Samantha Williams has not been
charged with any crime in the killings of her mother and grandmother. In
a statement, Archer spokesman Todd Brown said
prosecutors opted to drop the charges “based upon new evidence that
materially affects the credibility of a critical State witness.” The
statement said prosecutors still doubt Aguirre-Jarquin’s account, but do
not believe his continued incarceration “is warranted or justified.”
“The
State Attorney's Office will be meeting with the Seminole County
Sheriff's Office over the coming weeks to review the evidence and
determine if there are any investigative avenues that can be pursued, or
any further action to be taken in this case,” Brown said.
Aguirre-Jarquin, 38, has steadfastly maintained his innocence, claiming
he found the bodies of his next-door neighbors while searching
for beer in their Vagabond Way home after a night of drinking. In
an emotional statement he gave before Circuit Judge John Galluzzo
Monday morning, Aguirre-Jarquin thanked his lawyers, and praised the
judge and his court deputies for treating him with respect. “Besides my
mother, nobody believed me,” he said. He is the 28th person absolved
from the death penalty in Florida — the state leading the country in
death-row exonerations. Aguirre-Jarquin was convicted and sentenced to
die in 2006 — based in part on the testimony of Samantha Williams. But in 2016, the state’s high court overturned his conviction and sentence due in part to testimony that she had repeatedly confessed to the killings. "An innocent man was almost executed for a crime he did not commit.”
— Innocence Project lawyer Josh Dubin. His
lawyers also identified more than 100 previously untested bloodstains
from the scene of the crime. None of the blood belonged to
Aguirre-Jarquin, but eight droplets matched Williams’ DNA — including
on the kitchen floor that had been mopped hours before her mother and
grandmother were killed. In
its decision overturning Aguirre-Jarquin’s conviction, the state
Supreme Court called him “a scapegoat for [Williams’] crimes.” Despite
the Supreme Court’s decision, the Seminole-Brevard State Attorney’s
Office opted to re-try Aguirre-Jarquin. Jury selection for his second
trial was expected to conclude this week. But last week came a bombshell
revelation: The wife of Mark Van Sandt, Samantha Williams’ boyfriend at
the time of the slayings, swore in an affidavit that Van Sandt
had told her he saw Williams crawling out of his bedroom window the
night of the killings. Van Sandt had previously told investigators
Williams was asleep at his home all night, vouching for her alibi.
Aguirre-Jarquin and Williams had a friendly relationship and often
visited each others’ homes to share drinks. After the killings, Williams
told police she had a “gut feeling” Aguirre-Jarquin was the culprit. He
has said he got her blood on his clothes when he flipped her over to
check for a pulse, and picked up the 10-inch chef’s knife used in the
killings because he did not know whether the killer was still in the
home. And he said he didn’t call authorities and tried disposing of his
clothes and the knife, because he was an undocumented immigrant who
feared deportation. The property at 121 Vagabond Way is now an
empty lot. Erik Bareis, Samantha Williams’ brother, still lives in the
neighborhood, and said he is still convinced Aguirre-Jarquin killed his
relatives. “How else would they find the knife and the
bloody clothes and all of that?” Bareis said. “C’mon now. You can’t
convince me that he didn’t do it. I’d like to see him ... I wouldn’t say
anything to him. I can’t tell you what I would say to him, anyway.” Aguirre-Jarquin’s
lawyers uncovered testimony from several of Williams’ friends and
neighbors that she had confessed to the killings at least five times to
four different people — at one point making stabbing motions toward her
chest while saying she killed her mother and grandmother. Before
the case was dropped, Williams appeared in court for a closed-door
deposition Oct. 24. During the day-long session, she responded
indignantly to questions from Aquirre-Jarguin’s lawyers, often looking
at her phone and at one point removing a wad of chewing tobacco from her
mouth. In a videotaped deposition by lawyers for
Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin on Oct. 24, 2018, Samantha Williams admitted to
blacking out in rage and struggled to recall past incidents when asked.
She denied having caused the deaths of her mother and grandmother,
though multiple witnesses have said Williams confessed to killing Cheryl
Williams and Carol Bareis. She admitted to having blacked out from
moments of
explosive rage in the past and repeatedly claimed to not remember
specific incidents when asked about them. “I just want to [expletive] go
home,” she said at one point. “I miss my baby. I hate this [expletive].
I want it to be over.” “Do you know who wants it to be over too?” asked
Dubin, pointing toward Aguirre-Jarquin. “This man.” “Then let it be
over,” Williams said. “I don’t give a [expletive] anymore.” At
the end of the day, Dubin directly asked Williams whether she killed
her mother and grandmother: “How can you be so certain that you would be
able to remember [the killings] when you told me earlier that you don’t
know what you don’t remember?” “I guess I can’t be then, can I?”
Williams said.
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-charges-dropped-clemente-aguirre-jarquin-seminole-murders-20181031-story.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-charges-dropped-clemente-aguirre-jarquin-seminole-murders-20181031-story.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
