In a dramatic courtroom scene that one innocently convicted woman called a “Christmas miracle,” a Los Angeles County judge on Friday reversed the murder sentences of two men and ordered their immediate release, 17 years after they were locked up.
“These charges are dismissed,” High Court Judge William Ryan said, adding: “We need to understand how rare this is.”
The courtroom erupted in applause as family and friends of Lombardo Palacios, 33, and Charlotte Preites, 37, watched on in tears.
The pair were convicted in 2009 of murdering Hector Flores, who was shot to death in his car at a Sunset Boulevard shopping mall in 2007. The two men came to the attention of LAPD detectives after word spread that the suspects were affiliated with the White Fence Gang, a predominantly Latino group active in the area, according to court records. . The two men were identified by two witnesses who picked their faces from photo albums of gang members. However, the shooting occurred at night, and one of the witnesses had poor eyesight and was wearing trifocal lenses.
Still, the jury convicted Palacios and Preites, who was pregnant at the time of her arrest but later gave birth in prison, and sentenced her to 50 years to life in prison.
After the shooting, police dragged Palacios, then 15, from his bed and questioned him for several hours. Ultimately, the teen claimed he was involved in the killing, but the details of his statements were not consistent with the crime, according to a description of the incident included in court filings.
Palacios later recanted, but has continued to maintain his innocence in the years since.
A 2005 photo of 15-year-old Lombardo Palacios, who falsely confessed to the murder after hours of police interrogation.
(Courtesy of Sigri Ortes)
In a letter released by his lawyer to the Innocence Project, Palacios explained why he confessed to something he didn’t do. The detectives “kept repeating the story of the crime to me. I was frustrated and fed up with the situation.”
He said he began to agree with them out of fear and exhaustion.
“I took the story and put myself in it. I said everything they wanted me to say,” he wrote.
His co-defendant, Ms. Preites, is several years older and barely acquainted, but she has always maintained that she had no involvement in the crime.
Although Mr. Palacios’ interrogation was ultimately not used in the trial, Mr. Palacios’ attorney, Nicholas Thomas, said the confession gave detectives some confidence that they had the right person in custody. He said this confession likely influenced the outcome. Years later, a private investigator working for Palacios’ defense team makes an important discovery. It was that the other suspects had been overlooked by the police.
Armed with that new evidence, the defense team questioned former parish officials. Atty. Georges Gascón and his Conviction Integrity Unit will review the case. In October, the Gascón government asked for Mr. Palacios and Mr. Prates to be declared “factually innocent.”
At the time, Gascón told the Times: “Not only am I convinced that they are innocent, but I also believe that we will know who committed the murder.”
A motion filed by his office jointly with lawyers for Palacios and Preites identified new suspects, but their names were redacted in court records. However, an effort to free them in October took an unexpected turn. Dayan Mathai, the original prosecutor who tried the case and who remains a member of the district attorney’s office, appeared in court to protest.
Matai’s appearance created an unusual situation in which two prosecutors from the same office argued for different results. Mathai said he wanted to comment on the “credibility of some of the witnesses” who supported the acquittal.
“You need to understand how unusual this is,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Ryan told Lombardo Palacios and Charlotte Preites, whose murder convictions were vacated.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Judge Ryan adjourned the October hearing to a later date, dashing the immediate hopes of the two defendants and their families who had gathered at the prison gates in hopes of being released.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County voters removed Gascón from office and replaced him with Nathan Hockman. After reviewing the case, Hochman agreed with his predecessor that the two should not be sent to prison.
This week, Mr. Hochman asked the judge in a brief, also signed by Mr. Mathai, to vacate the conviction.
“New evidence has come to light…LADA has lost confidence in the conviction,” he wrote.
He asked the judge to consider whether the pair were “factually innocent,” meaning authorities acknowledged they committed no crime.
Hochman’s brief also said the prosecutors and police officers who put the men in jail in the first place did nothing wrong.
“This newly discovered evidence was not available at the time of the original investigation,” he wrote. “There is no evidence to suggest that any of the investigators, responding officers, or prosecutors involved in the incident engaged in inappropriate, unethical, or illegal conduct.”
Mathai initially opposed their release, but there were still tense moments in court Friday. A judge initially said they would be released, but only if they wore ankle monitors. He said he did so because of concerns raised by Matai in his October filing.
Hochman assured the judge that Mathai was no longer concerned about their release. “We have lost confidence in the conviction,” he said, adding: “We have been through everything.”
For Mr. Preites, Mr. Palacios, and their families, the legal complications were minor compared to the fact that they would eventually return home.
“This is a Christmas miracle,” Pleytes told the judge. “I feel nothing but gratitude.”
Attorney Nicholas Thomas speaks by phone with his client, Center Lombardo Palacios, who was still incarcerated at Vacaville Prison, about the development of the case. Palacios’ sister, Sigri Ortez (left), listens.
(Paul Clodagh/For the Times)
After the hearing, Preites’ mother gave her the gifts she needed once she was free. “I have a phone,” she cried. “Mom bought me a cell phone!”
Before the hearing, Mr. Palacios was also presented with a new cell phone. “It’s been 18 years since I’ve had a cell phone,” he said as his sister, Sigri Ortez, taught him how to send text messages.
Before the hearing, Hochman gathered with family members outside the courtroom, introducing himself and exchanging hugs.
“This is going to be a good Christmas. It’s going to be a good Christmas,” Hockman told Palacios’ mother. His mother said seeing her son freed was something she had hoped to do during his annual vacation while incarcerated.
Palacios thanked the public for supporting Hochman’s release, adding, “I knew justice would prevail.”
