he 2002 sexual assault conviction of Ricardo Rachell rested solely on testimony from the eight-year-old victim and a friend who was with the boy before the attack. Police relied so heavily on the identifications made by the victim and his friend that they did not conduct DNA testing on either the biological evidence collected in the case or on the reference sample voluntarily provided by Rachell.
Ricardo Rachell spent six years in prison while the biological evidence that would exonerate him sat untested in a Houston crime lab.
Although both the victim and his friend identified Rachell, it is difficult to understand how this identification held up in court because Rachell’s face was significantly disfigured in a shotgun accident years ago, making it difficult for him to talk. The victim’s friend told police that the man spoke clearly. Rachell took the stand in his own defense and demonstrated that the gunshot wound had left him with a significant speech impediment. Despite these discrepancies, Rachell was convicted and sentenced to forty years in prison.
In October of 2008, DNA testing established that Rachell could not have committed the crime and Harris county prosecutors endorsed the reversal of his conviction.
Because of two mistaken eyewitness identifications and the failure to disclose DNA evidence, Ricardo Rachell spent six years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
