Bronx man’s conviction overturned after 25 years
BY JASON COHEN
A Bronx man who spent 25
years in jail was fi nally exonerated
for a crime he did not
commit.
On Wednesday, January
28, Rafael Ruiz, 60, who was incarcerated
from 1985 to 2009,
had a huge load taken off his
shoulders when the Manhattan
Conviction Integrity Program
and the Innocence Project
overturned his conviction.
In 1985 Ruiz was accused
of a sexual assault that took
place in East Harlem.
He was offered a plea deal,
where he would have done 18
months to three years in jail,
but declined, maintaining his
innocence.
Seema Saifee, one of the attorneys
from the Innocence
Project, said the non-profi t
took on his case in 2007.
“We received Mr. Ruiz’s
case and immediately thought
his trial’s facts were misleading
and he was innocent,”
Saifee said.
Saifee told the Bronx Times
there were several problems
with his case.
First off, because DNA testing
did not exist in the 1980s,
his rape kit was never tested.
Rafael Ruiz celebrates being exonerated from a crime he did not commit 25 years in jail for.
Photo Courtesy Sameer Abdel-Khalek/Innocence Project
So, they immediately tracked
the kit down and quickly
showed he did not commit the
crime when his DNA didn’t
match.
The victim also identifi ed
the wrong apartment and assailant.
She said that the person
was black and named Ronnie,
who then drove her to the
building where Ruiz’s brother
resided. However, Ruiz never
went by the name Ronnie,
doesn’t drive and isn’t black.
Ronnie at the time who lived
in another apartment, who
was known to do drugs and often
identifi cations we’ve ever
seen,” Saifee said.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,30 FEBRUARY 14-20, 2020 BTR
apart even more. The victim
was shown an array of photos of
her possible assailant and all of
them were black men with Afros,
James E. MaQuade, Owner
Family Owned & Operated for over 60 years
3535 East Tremont Avenue
Bronx, New York
718-792-0270
www.schuylerhill.com
There was a man named
beat his girlfriend.
“It was one of the worst
From there the case falls
If funeral homes were all the same,
Ours wouldn’t be the family choice
The families of our community so often choose our funeral home. Some come to us to pre-plan
arrangements because we offer all the options and choices they desire. Others come to us at their
time of need seeking guidance, support and the certainty of a funeral service that is correct in
every way. Should your family fi nd itself in need of our services, we hope you’ll make the choice so
many in our community have.
except Ruiz who is Puerto
Rican with long curly hair.
Then she was asked to
identify him through a line-up
mirror, where he was wearing
the same clothes as the photo.
“So of course she was going
to identify him,” Saifee exclaimed.
How could a man who
didn’t fi t the description of
the perp be locked up for the
crime?, she said.
According to Saifee, even
though Ruiz was let out of jail
in 2009, it was their organization’s
goal to prove he didn’t
commit the crime.
While it took 13 years, it
was worth it.
She stressed that Ruiz
never gave up hope.
“This case highlights the
need to do more testing of evidence,”
she said.
The Innocence Project,
founded in 1992 by Peter
Neufeld and Barry Scheck at
Cardozo School of Law, seeks
to exonerate the wrongly convicted
through DNA testing
and reforms the criminal justice
system to prevent future
injustices.
Created in 2010 by District
Attorney Cyrus Vance, the
Conviction Integrity Program
is the fi rst of its kind in New
York City.
It investigates post-conviction
claims of innocence, and
prevents wrongful convictions
from happening in the
fi rst place.
/www.schuylerhill.com
/www.schuylerhill.com