Latinas Wrongfully Convicted Of Molesting Children Are Expected To Walk Free

huffpo latinoBy Lila Shapiro and Saki Knafo, Huffington Post Latino Voices

In 1994, Elizabeth Ramirez, then 20, was arrested in San Antonio, Texas, for allegedly molesting her two young nieces, aged 7 and 9.

In two bizarre trials, she and three other women, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh and Anna Vasquez, all lesbians, were accused of repeatedly assaulting the girls during a nightmarish week-long orgy in 1994. A medical expert and the prosecutor hinted that the women had been performing a Satanic ritual, and pointed to what they claimed was scientific evidence of their guilt. A judge sent the women to prison — 35 years for Ramirez, 15 for each of the others.

For more than a decade, the women sought the attention of advocates for prisoners and of the press, insisting that they had been falsely accused, but their calls for help went unanswered. And then, in 2006, a Canadian college instructor named Darrell Otto began researching the case. Otto became convinced that the women were innocent and reached out to the National Center for Reason and Justice, a New York-based organization that pushes for the release of those believed to be wrongly accused of crimes against children. He set in motion an effort to free the women that has finally culminated in victory.

On Monday, a judge acknowledged that the witness testimony used to convict Ramirez, Mayhugh and Rivera was faulty and agreed to release them under bond. The fourth woman, Vasquez, is already out on parole. Reached by phone, she told The Huffington Post the news was “exciting and overwhelming.”

Although she has been out of jail for more than a year, the conditions of her parole restrict her from going within 500 feet of a school, a church, a playground or any other place where children gather. Monday’s decision does not immediately effect her, but she said she expects her conviction will eventually be overturned.

For Vasquez and her supporters, the release of the remaining three of the “San Antonio Four,” as the women came to be known, signifies a growing acceptance of LGBT people both in Texas and nationwide. “Homosexuality back then was viewed as perverted, a sickness, and one where they associated lesbians with having been child molesters,” she said.

Mike Ware, the defense attorney for the women, argued that his clients’ sexual orientation may have played a role in the investigation …

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This article was originally published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.

[Photo by mastahanky]

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