The Innocence Forum

Alibi Witnesses Never Called to Testify

• Fact # one

  Carlos' main defense was that he was somewhere different at the time so someone else must have committed the crime. Carlos had a list of alibi witness who would be able to tell the court he was with them on the night of the teenagers' murders. Carlos says he was with his girlfriend and her sister that evening. He has a third alibi witness the person who drove him there. The defense lawyer did not interview or call these witnesses to testify. Carlos believes that if called to the court all three of these witnesses would have been able to back up his alibi.

No Physical Evidence

• Fact # two

  Carlos wanted the gun that the police said was used in the crime to be tested for fingerprints. The test was done and the results were inconclusive, Carlos' fingerprints were not found on the gun

• Fact # three

  Carlos' clothing was taken away to be scientifically tested. Nothing was found on any of Carlos' clothing to connect him with the crime.

Unreliable Witness Testimony

• Fact # four

  No witness saw the crime being committed or saw Carlos leaving the scene of the crime. Carlos conviction is largely based on two witnesses saying they saw him around the time the murder took place. The witnesses state that they see him for only two or three seconds. They say they saw him walking in the neighborhood. Neither say they saw a gun. The witnesses who said they saw Carlos in the neighborhood said he was wearing dark jeans. A person who described the people fleeing the scene said they were wearing red and white bermuda shorts.

• Fact # five

  Another witness alleged that a man he "believed" to be Carlos Mc Grew was seen running in the neighborhood with no shirt on. This witness said he had been pressurized to say this after four hours of questioning.

• Fact # six

  A storekeeper told police that Carlos was buying bullets for a weapon in his pawn shop. He actually said that Carlos was very agitated and told him he needed the bullets for that evening. This statement is beyond belief! The court said this was all caught on a video camera but they never played the tape in court. If the court did have this valuable piece of evidence why did they not show it to the jury since this was a murder trial and they would supposedly use any evidence they had in order to help get a conviction?

Illegal Arrest

• Fact # seven

  Three days after the murder Carlos decided to run home since it was 3.30 am. A police officer regarded this as suspicious behavior and decided to arrest him, Carlos had drugs on him and was arrested for possession of drugs. The police also charged Carlos with a firearms offense. He was charged with possessing a gun that the police officer found in the back yard of a house. The police officer alleged he saw Carlos throw a package. He says that rather than picking it up after he saw Carlos throw it he left and went back later for it later. He said he then found out that the package was a gun. It would obviously be normal for an police officer arresting someone to immediately pick up a package that the person being arrested threw away rather than going away and coming back later when obviously there is a risk of it not still being there.Carlos had tried to avoid being seen by the officer which may have seemed suspicious but he did this probably because he had illegal drugs on him. There was nothing to link him to the crime he was arrested and charged for.

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