The Schuster Institute
for Investigative Journalism
Brandeis University
ex A 20 on ng 15 er el at ed !
www.brandeis.edu/investigate
While imprisoned 21 years, Angel EchavarrĂa did not see his five children, including his daughters (above). Family, friends and Schuster Institute staff and student researchers gathered at Brandeis University in June 2015 to celebrate his release and exoneration.
Angel EchavarrĂa’s quest for justice A Schuster Institute wrongful conviction investigation
Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism Founding Director Florence Graves Advisory Board Chairs: Elaine Schuster Gerald Schuster
Members: Cynthia Berenson Katie Ford Michele Kessler Jonathan Lavine Julia Ormond George Packer Mariane Pearl Alexandra Schuster Tom Shadyac Senior Fellows
David Black Michael Blanding Scott Carney Karen Coates Madeline Drexler Judy Foreman Jan Goodwin E.J. Graff Brooke Kroeger Phillip Martin Erin Siegal McIntyre Maryn McKenna Michael McLeod Tracie McMillan Jannelle Nanos Jerry Redfern Maria Stenzel James Verini Seth Freed Wessler Hella Winston Senior Justice Fellow Elaine Murphy
Visiting Research Scholars Marian Glaser Laura Paige Shanlai Shangguan
schusterinstituteinvestigations.org schusterinstitute@brandeis.edu @SchusterInst
ABOUT THE SCHUSTER INSTITUTE The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University is a collaborative, investigative newsroom focusing on social justice and human rights issues as well as government accountability and transparency. We dive into systemic problems afflicting those who are poor, voiceless, or forgotten—with an eye toward informing policymakers and public debate. Launched in 2004 by Florence Graves to help fill the void in highquality public interest and investigative journalism, the Institute was the nation’s first independent, investigative reporting center based at a university.
Florence Graves, founding director
In recent years our reporting has led to changes in practices by the U.S. State Department, the government of New Zealand, and major corporations such as Boeing, Unilever, Cargill and P&G. Our newsroom at Brandeis University is the hub for full-time staff and research assistants who support the work of more than 20 Schuster Institute Fellows located in New England and around the country, covering regional and national stories as well as global stories with U.S. ties. Subject areas include human trafficking and modern-day slavery; criminal justice; race and justice; food and health; government and corporate wrongdoing; environmental justice; gender and justice (including sexual harassment of teens and fraud in international adoption to the U.S.); political and social justice; and border issues and immigration.
THE JUSTICE BRANDEIS LAW PROJECT The Justice Brandeis Law Project at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University was established to make a contribution to resolving the untenable ethical, civil and human rights issues created by wrongful convictions and to shine a light on systemic flaws in the criminal justice system. Our approach is different from most wrongful conviction projects. It is one of the few projects around the country that uses journalistic methods as a primary tool. Although we consult with attorneys and academic experts in criminal justice, we depend on investigative reporting techniques to probe cases of likely wrongful conviction because, often, there is no DNA to test. Using time- and resource-intensive techniques, we dig into the facts of such cases, including obtaining and examining reams of court documents and police records; reconstructing the crime scene and timeline; and interviewing or re-interviewing witnesses. Brandeis University students we hire form an integral part of our work. The cases we choose involve the type of problems that affect defendants around the country to highlight issues as well as individuals. In addition to Angel Echavarría’s case, we have been investigating several other important and promising cases.
HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR WORK The Institute was founded in 2004 with a generous gift from Elaine and Gerald Schuster. To learn more about how to support efforts like these or to get more involved, please visit our websites, brandeis.edu/investigate and schusterinstituteinvestigations.org, or email schusterinstitute@brandeis.edu. Contact: Chief Development Officer Beth MacNeill, bethmacneill@brandeis.edu
A N G E L’S S TO R Y
CASE TIMELINE
Twenty-one years into a life sentence for a murder conviction that was overturned April 30, Angel Echavarría was set free May 18, 2015, to the sound of cheers in Essex County Superior Court in Salem. As soon as Echavarria was released from his shackles, the crowd of supporters applauded and he made his way to the courtroom door, stopping to hug his youngest daughter, Ishannis López, 22, who was six months old at the time of his arrest. It had been a long haul to freedom for the soft-spoken Dominican man, who spent almost half his life behind bars, thanks in large part to erroneous witness accounts with shaky origins and incompetent legal representation. “I’m very happy,” said Echavarria, 48, as he addressed reporters and supporters gathered outside the courthouse. Gesturing to his lawyer, Leslie O’Brien, and the crowd of students and staff from the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, he added, “I want to say thank you to everybody who made this happen.” The Schuster Institute investigated Echavarria’s case beginning in 2005, unearthing valuable evidence that helped lead the judge to grant an evidentiary hearing in December 2014. The Committee for Public Counsel Services assigned attorney Leslie O’Brien to Echavarria’s case in 2008.
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It means a lot to me because I’ve been suffering a lot in there. Because I am innocent, I knew it would come. I never gave up…. When you’re innocent, you keep your hope.
”
On June 15, when prosecutors announced they would not retry him and he became officially exonerated, Echavarría would begin the difficult but welcome task of rebuilding his life. From the beginning, he maintained his innocence in the Jan. 7, 1994, murder of Daniel Rodriguez in a Lynn, Mass., apartment.
1994 Jan. 7 Daniel Rodriguez is murdered in Lynn, Mass. His brother, Isidoro, tells police at the scene that the assailants were two Puerto Rican males in their early 20s, one lighter-skinned and one darker-skinned. Isidoro is taken to Lynn Police station and shown mug books containing over 600 photos of Hispanic males. He singles out the mug shot of Mariano Bonifacio as looking like one of the assailants. Jan. 14 Police show Isidoro a nine-photo array containing a more recent mug shot of Bonifacio. Isidoro again singles out Bonifacio’s photo as looking like the lighter-skinned assailant. Police do not investigate Bonifacio further. Unbeknown to the defense until after Angel Echavarría’s conviction, Bonifacio had been arrested for allegedly shooting another man in Lynn two months earlier. The victim identified Bonifacio in a photo array as his assailant. Charges were never formally filed against Bonfiacio, and he was released. Jan. 16 Isidoro Rodriguez sees Echavarría and Juan Rodriguez (no relation) at a barbershop and then at a restaurant. He claims to recognize them as the men who murdered his brother and alerts police. Jan. 17 Echavarría and Juan Rodriguez are arrested for the murder of Daniel Rodriguez.
“We are deeply grateful that the criminal justice system has finally recognized that Angel Echavarría never received a fair trial,” said Florence Graves, founding director of the Schuster Institute, which investigated the case over the course of 10 years. “The evidence against Angel was deeply flawed and there was no physical evidence against him. Over time, through our deep investigation, it became even clearer to us that Angel was almost surely innocent. None of the so-called evidence fit. And without even factoring in the new science about the unreliability of eyewitness evidence in general, the eyewitness evidence in Angel’s case didn’t square. It was extremely shaky and very inconsistent.” Citing numerous examples, Judge David A. Lowy based his decision allowing Echavarria’s motion for a new trial
His daughter and cousin by his side, Angel Echavarría wipes away tears as he speaks to reporters after his release from prison.
on the ineffectiveness of Echavarría’s trial attorney, Charles H. Robson. Robson’s performance, the judge wrote, “fell measurably below that which might be expected from an ordinary fallible lawyer.” He also cited the fact that Robson “had complaints pending against him from the Board of Bar Overseers” at the time of Echavarría’s trial – unbeknown to Echavarría. Several months after Echavarría’s conviction, the Bar Counsel commenced proceedings against Robson, who was suspended from the Bar in 1997 for three years. Judge Lowy noted that Robson promised the jury in his opening statement that Echavarría would testify that he wasn’t at the scene of the murder and knew nothing about the crime. Over the course of the trial, however, Robson never called his client as a witness. “It is certainly conceivable,” wrote the judge, “that the jury’s verdict may have been different were it not for Mr. Robson’s error.” He concluded, “The weakness of the Commonwealth’s case, along with the performance of Mr. Echavarría’s counsel... leaves the Court with a compelling belief that justice may not have been done in this case.” Echavarría’s attorney Leslie O’Brien could not agree more. “This (was) one of the best moments in my 31-year career. I just couldn’t be happier or more pleased for Angel.” At the May 18 impromptu press conference after Echavarría’s release, a reporter asked, “Angel, what are you going to do now?”
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“I’m gonna eat some food,” he said, getting a big laugh from the crowd.
I pray every night that all of you can put an end to this, and I know that you will do it. I have put my faith in all of you.
”
— Angel Echavarría in a 2008 letter to the Schuster Institute
And then, seated next to his youngest daughter in the back seat of his cousin’s SUV, a cell phone in his hands for the very first time, he drove away to a celebratory lobster dinner with family and friends. a To read more details about our investigation into Echavarría’s case, please visit brandeis.edu/investigate Top: Angel Echavarría makes his first phone call as a free man. A Brandeis graduate who worked on his case raised money to buy him a cell phone. Left: The night of his release, the taste of freedom was the taste of lobster. Right: With four of his five children, walking the Brandeis University campus.
Feb. 18 Lynn police show Isidoro Rodriguez two photo arrays: one containing Echavarría’s photo and one containing Juan Rodriguez’s photo. Isidoro picks both of their photos out of the arrays. March 7 Isidoro picks Echavarría and Juan Rodriguez out of separate lineups conducted at Middleton Jail. Aug. 22 Isidoro testifies against Echavarría and Juan Rodriguez in a Probable Cause Hearing. Sept. 7 Echavarría and Juan Rodriguez are indicted for the murder of Daniel Rodriguez. Oct. 12 Echavarría pleads not guilty to the murder of Daniel Rodriguez. 1995 Jan. 18 Mass. Police Sgt. John Garvin and Lynn Police Lt. J. Michael Roach question inmate Gary Sevinor about his knowledge of the year-old shooting of Daniel Rodriguez. Feb. 2 Echavarría files a motion to dismiss the charges against him based on insufficient evidence and the state’s failure to try him within a year of his indictment. Feb. 20 Sevinor singles out Echavarría’s photo and writes on the photo array that he “couldn’t swear” that Echavarria was one of the assailants. 1996 Jan. 11 Echavarría and Juan Rodriguez are tried concurrently but represented by different attorneys. Echavarría is represented by Charles H. Robson. Jan. 26 The jury returns a guilty verdict and Echavarría is sentenced to life in prison. June 4 The Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers files formal charges against attorney Robson. 1997 April 8 Robson is suspended from the Massachusetts Bar. 1998 Dec. 22 Echavarría’s first appeal is denied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. 2000 Aug. 9 Echavarría contacts New England Innocence Project (NEIP) 2005 Nov. 15 Echavarría authorizes NEIP to release his case file to the Justice Brandeis Law Project at the Schuster Institute.
i
Mike Lovett
The Brief
A LENGTHY WRONG: Lindsay Markel ’08 Working behind the scenes to help Angel Echavarría win his freedom inspired Lindsay Markel, aRIGHTING Brandeis graduate, to become a public defender. with Angel Echavarria after his release. Working behind the scenes on his case inspired her to become a public defender, she says.
S T U D E N T S P L AY P I VOTA L R O L E I N J U S T I C E B Innocence R A N D E I S L AW P R O J E C T I N V E S T I G AT I O N S Regained MIKE LOVETT
Schuster Institute Helps Free Man Incarcerated for Two Decades
T
he wheels of justice grind slowly. the case files. A new attorney submitted a motion for a new trial No one knows this better than Angel Echavarria, who spent five years ago using much of the Law Project’s evidence. Last 21 years in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Now, December, an evidentiary hearing was held regarding that motion. thanks in large part to Brandeis’ Schuster Institute for InvestigaIn April, an Essex County (Mass.) superior court judge granted tive Journalism, Echavarria is a free man. Echavarria a new trial, citing the ineffective assistance of his In 1994, Echavarria was accused of murdering a drug dealer in original trial counsel. On May 18, Echavarria’s conviction was Lynn, Mass. Just after the shooting, the victim’s brother identified vacated, and the 48-year-old was released from prison wearing an another man as looking like the murderer. Police never investi- ankle monitoring bracelet. gated this lead. Ten days later, the victim’s brother changed his A little less than a month later, the Essex County district attormind, and told police that Echavarria was the shooter. ney announced his office would not retry Echavarria, the ankle Echavarria didn’t fit the description the victim’s brother origi- bracelet was removed, and Echavarria became truly free. nally gave: Puerto Rican, 20 years old, cleanshaven, a “stocky” or Lindsay Markel ’08, who worked on the case as Schuster InstiBrandeis“chunky” students andAtalumni to Echavarria celebratewas Angel Echavarría’s release.director (she was profiled in the Spring 2012 issue build. the timegathered of his arrest, a 27-yeartute assistant old Dominican who was 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighed 135 pounds of Brandeis Magazine), was in the courtroom when Echavarria’s Over the course the investigation into Angel Schoolconviction of and had a full of mustache. But police arrested him anyway, and in 1996 murder was vacated. She even attended the celebration Echavarría’s wrongful conviction case, dozens of Brandeis Law the he was convicted of first-degree murder and given a life sentence. that marked his first post-prison meal (he ate lobster). That same UniversityTen students and alumni joined team,Graves working same month years into Echavarria’s sentence,the Florence — the month, she graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law, and to unearth the director truth of had really that Echavarría’s founding of what the Schuster Institutehappened and creator in of the insti- will become a public defender in New Orleans. apartment Lynn,Brandeis Mass.,Law theProject, night which Danielexamines Rodriguez tute’sin Justice cases was involv- conviction “I’m absolutely overjoyed that Angel does have a chance now ing aTheir likely wrongful conviction — heard aboutIn hisastory. to enjoy time with hisStudents family andvisited get his Echavarría life back,” Markel says. murdered. work gave Echavarría hope. 2008 was overin prison. “We could not understand why Angel had been convicted,” Echavarria says he’s grateful for the work the Schuster team did letter to the Institute, he wrote, “I pray every night that all turned and Graves says. “There was no physical evidence against him, and in his behalf. “I believed in them, because I knew that they’re very of you can put an end to this, and I know that you will do celebrated theput evidence presented him seemed deeply flawed.” intelligent,” he says. “I never gave up. I put my trust in them, it. I have my faith in allagainst of you.” with him at The Law Project took on the Echavarria case, and a team of because I knew they were doing a good job.” Echavarría did not realize it, but he was inspiring the stuthe lobster dinner the night of his release. investigators and Brandeis student researchers began poring over Julian Cardillo ’14 dents, too. For students like Lindsay Markel, it sharpened Markel is now working as a public—defender in New
her focus: helping to right injustice was something she 8 Brandeis 2015 was meant to do.Summer She earned a degree from UC Berkeley
Orleans. Other Schuster Institute alumni have gone on to pursue careers in law, journalism and the nonprofit sector.
global media impact Starting with a Sunday column by Yvonne
Abraham in the Boston Globe and picking up with Associated Press news coverage and a Telemundo story that aired in the United States and throughout Latin America, the news of Angel Echavarría’s release and exoneration reached thousands of readers and viewers around the world. Within hours of his release, more than 200 news organizations had run the story.
Photo by Jim Davis for The Boston Globe.
Clockwise from top: Angel Echavarría as he exits the courthouse on May 18, 2015, following his release from prison. He is greeted by Liz Eckley, a Brandeis alumna, who helped investigate the case, and by a crowd of eagerly awaiting Schuster Institute current and former students and staff.
2008 Nov. 15 Attorney Leslie O’Brien assigned to Echavarría’s case. 2010 DNA testing of the phone cords purportedly used by the shooter to tie up witnesses of the shooting identifies at least 2 unknown contributors. Echavarría is excluded as a contributor. 2014 Dec. 18-19 Evidentiary hearing held on Echavarría’s motion for a new trial. Echavarría testifies on his own behalf for the first time. 2015 April 30 Judge Lowy throws out Echavarría’s conviction, citing ineffective assistance of trial counsel. May 18 Echavarría freed at bail hearing held at Essex County Superior Court in Salem. Judge Lowy vacates the murder conviction. June 15 The Essex County District Attorney’s Office announces that it will not retry Echavarría. The D.A. dismisses all charges and Echavarría is exonerated.
The development of DNA testing in the 1980s has given us a glimpse of the problems that beset our justice system. But it is as if we lit a single match in a vast, dark mansion. The dim light has allowed us to see that our criminal process can be horribly flawed ‌ Yet the magnitude of the crisis is many times larger. — Adam Benforado, Unfair 1,616 Current total number of exonerations since 1989 that researchers have identified to date**
62% of DNA exonerees are African American.*
125 Annual record high number of exonerees, set in 2014.*
163 DNA exoneration cases in which the true suspects or perpetrators of the crimes have been identified.*
333 Post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States since 1989.*
33 DNA exonerees pled guilty to crimes they did not commit.*
156 Exonerated while on Death Row (as of Oct. 12, 2015)***
70% of post-conviction DNA exoneration cases involved eyewitness misidentification.*
47% DNA exoneration cases in which unvalidated or improper forensic science contributed to the wrongful conviction. *
Sources: Innocence Project* National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan** Death Penalty Information Center***
By the NUMBERS