Charlotte Pleytez and Lombardo Palacios have been exonerated after spending over 17 years in prison for a murder they did not commit, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. In 2007, the two were convicted for the slaying of Hector Flores in East Hollywood, a case the DA is now describing as a "miscarriage of justice."
In a turn of events, pressuring a 15-year-old into a false confession, Charlotte Pleytez, who was just a teenager at the time, and Palacios, now 32, are seeing their sentences lifted. The DA’s Office told NBC Los Angeles that the convictions were based on problematic witness identifications and coercive police tactics, not on factual evidence.
At the heart of the District Attorney's argument for exoneration was the insistence that no concrete evidence tied Pleytez and Palacios to the crime. According to LAist, Pleytez maintained she had never met Palacios and was nowhere near the scene of the crime, while Palacios was subjected to a nearly two-hour interrogation before falsely confessing under duress—a video of which the jury never saw.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Ryan, wanting to ensure "a proper hearing," according to a statement obtained by FOX LA, has delayed the decision until November 1 upon learning that the trial prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Dayan Mathai, wished to be heard. Mathai reportedly raised concerns during a court hearing, prompting the judge to allow him the chance to present this information.
On the other side of the legal spectrum, Pleytez's defense attorney Matthew Lombard cast the attempted exoneration as a signal of commitment, not to mere conviction tallying, but to "achieving real justice," even if it includes admitting to past mistakes. Lombard criticized that Pleytez and Palacios fell through the cracks due to systemic flaws and their socioeconomic status, echoing DA George Gascón's sentiment that undue pressure for convictions creates "a very dangerous cocktail" within the justice system. As noted by LAist, Gascón called for action on this inherent problem and highlighted the change in California law which now prohibits deceitful interrogation tactics for minors.
