At about 2:30 a.m. on August 15, 1981, a couple, identified as Robert B. and Evelyn H., were building a fire on the beach in Huntington Beach, California when they were attacked by numerous members of a street gang. Seven men approached and beat the man until he was unconscious. They then gang-raped the woman.
An eighth member of the group, 20-year-old David Navarro, wandered off and fell asleep near a lifeguard station.
After the gang rape, the victims flagged down a police officer. When information on the incident was put out on the police radio, Navarro was discovered asleep on the beach and taken into custody for the couple to identify. The couple said Navarro looked like one of the gang members.
In fact, the couple had seen Navarro earlier when they walked by the gang members who were on the beach.
In 1982, he was convicted of one count of rape in Orange County Circuit Court based on the woman's identification of him as one of her attackers. Navarro testified and claimed he did not take part in the attack. However, he gave a false alibi which was exposed. Navarro was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
In 1985, the 4th District California Appellate Court overturned the conviction. The court ruled that the victim's identification was weak and not corroborated.
Navarro was released on bond after spending three and a half years in prison.
While awaiting a retrial, Navarro retained a new lawyer, Alex Forgette, who became convinced that Navarro was innocent. Robinson, who had been assigned to the case on remand, was puzzled, as was Forgette, that Navarro would be found asleep on the beach less than 30 minutes after the attack.
Navarro said that he could identify the real attackers. He agreed to wear a recording device when he returned to his neighborhood in Santa Fe Springs, California. During one visit, five members of the gang admitted that they took part and that Navarro did not. The conversation was monitored by police.
Ultimately, the five men were charged with the attack. In April 1986, the men - David Cadena, Gregory Franco, Anthony Ramirez, Arthur Esquivel, and Thomas Gomez - pled guilty in Orange County Circuit Court.
At the time of the pleas, Deputy District Attorney Jeoffrey Robinson said that Navarro had been wrongly convicted of raping the woman - and that it was through his effort to prove his innocence that investigators gathered evidence against the other five.
"We told him that if he was really innocent, he would help us convict who really did it," Robinson said.
"Basically, Mr. Navarro just told them [his friends] he was worried about being prosecuted again, and he wondered what really happened," Robinson said. "They told him everything, and we learned from them that he really had been asleep during the whole incident."
The defendants were each sentenced to 19 years in prison. After those cases were resolved in 1986, Navarro's case was dismissed. A sixth defendant, who was a juvenile at the time of the attack, pled guilty to as an accessory to the crime and was sentenced to probation. A seventh man believed to have been involved fled to Mexico.
- Maurice Possley
An eighth member of the group, 20-year-old David Navarro, wandered off and fell asleep near a lifeguard station.
After the gang rape, the victims flagged down a police officer. When information on the incident was put out on the police radio, Navarro was discovered asleep on the beach and taken into custody for the couple to identify. The couple said Navarro looked like one of the gang members.
In fact, the couple had seen Navarro earlier when they walked by the gang members who were on the beach.
In 1982, he was convicted of one count of rape in Orange County Circuit Court based on the woman's identification of him as one of her attackers. Navarro testified and claimed he did not take part in the attack. However, he gave a false alibi which was exposed. Navarro was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
In 1985, the 4th District California Appellate Court overturned the conviction. The court ruled that the victim's identification was weak and not corroborated.
Navarro was released on bond after spending three and a half years in prison.
While awaiting a retrial, Navarro retained a new lawyer, Alex Forgette, who became convinced that Navarro was innocent. Robinson, who had been assigned to the case on remand, was puzzled, as was Forgette, that Navarro would be found asleep on the beach less than 30 minutes after the attack.
Navarro said that he could identify the real attackers. He agreed to wear a recording device when he returned to his neighborhood in Santa Fe Springs, California. During one visit, five members of the gang admitted that they took part and that Navarro did not. The conversation was monitored by police.
Ultimately, the five men were charged with the attack. In April 1986, the men - David Cadena, Gregory Franco, Anthony Ramirez, Arthur Esquivel, and Thomas Gomez - pled guilty in Orange County Circuit Court.
At the time of the pleas, Deputy District Attorney Jeoffrey Robinson said that Navarro had been wrongly convicted of raping the woman - and that it was through his effort to prove his innocence that investigators gathered evidence against the other five.
"We told him that if he was really innocent, he would help us convict who really did it," Robinson said.
"Basically, Mr. Navarro just told them [his friends] he was worried about being prosecuted again, and he wondered what really happened," Robinson said. "They told him everything, and we learned from them that he really had been asleep during the whole incident."
The defendants were each sentenced to 19 years in prison. After those cases were resolved in 1986, Navarro's case was dismissed. A sixth defendant, who was a juvenile at the time of the attack, pled guilty to as an accessory to the crime and was sentenced to probation. A seventh man believed to have been involved fled to Mexico.
- Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 10-29-2024
Case Details:
State:
California
County:
Orange
Most Serious Crime:
Sexual Assault
Reported Crime Date:
1981
Convicted:
1982
Exonerated:
1986
Sentence:
Term of Years
Race / Ethnicity:
Hispanic
Sex:
Male
Age at the date of reported crime:
20
Contributing Factors:
Mistaken Witness ID