Exoneration of the Day - Police in Arizona arrested a man and charged him with aggravated assault for striking another man with a gun

The man was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, went to trial before the Judge Wallace Hoggatt, who heard the evidence without a jury. The “victim” testified that the man punched him and struck him in the head with a gun. The “attacker” was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.

A post-conviction petition for a new trial was filed after a witness came forward and said that the “victim” admitted that the “attacker” never attacked him. The witness said that the “victim” made up the story because he believed that the “attacker had sex with his daughter.

The Judge vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial and the charge was dismissed. The “attacker” was actually convicted years later of a different aggravated assault and sentenced to seven years in prison.

For more details on this case and other cases involving someone wrongly being convicted of a crime, visit:

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=4741