Northern California Innocence Project client David Losoya was in the process of working with NCIP to obtain an exoneration for a crime of which many believe he was wrongly convicted. Though the view Losoya was innocent was not unanimous, it certainly merited a reexamination, in the opinion of legal professionals. Unfortunately, Losoya passed away before the process could be completed.
A recent column in the San Jose Mercury News by Scott Herhold reviewed Losoya’s case and mentioned NCIP’s help:
NCIP legal director Starr caught a break when she ran into an ex-Santa Clara University law student at a party who was clerking for a Santa Cruz County judge. The former student mentioned that the judge was reading a transcript in a motion submitted by a prison inmate.
What’s the name of the case? Starr asked. Losoya, the ex-student replied. By early 2014, the Innocence Project had copies of the bulk of the transcript.
Starr assigned the case to Tamara Crepet, a persistent lawyer who made contacts with the FBI and with ex-Nuestra Family member Joe Gonzales.
Meanwhile, the innocence project had tracked down Ruben Garnica, who told the NCIP that he had never met Losoya before the two of them appeared in court in the Watsonville murder.
