Michael Nevarez, now 45, pleaded guilty to murdering Damond Wittman outside a Deep Ellum nightclub in 1997, and a jury handed him a 21-year prison sentence this past week. The case closes a painful chapter for Martin Santillan, who spent more than 25 years in prison for a killing he did not commit before DNA evidence finally pointed investigators toward the real gunman.
According to CBS News, Nevarez was just 16 years old on July 14, 1997, when he approached Wittman, then 21, outside the nightclub. Officials said the gunman asked Wittman for a cigarette, and Wittman offered him one. Then, according to the same account, the man pulled a gun and demanded money; Wittman fought back and was shot multiple times. He later died at Baylor University Medical Center. A grand jury eventually indicted Nevarez for the murder, as reported by WFAA.
A Quarter-Century Lost to a Wrongful Conviction
Long before Nevarez faced charges, Martin Santillan was the man prosecutors believed pulled the trigger. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1998 at age 24 — CBS News described the conviction as capital murder, while the Innocence Project of Texas described it as first-degree murder. The Innocence Project of Texas notes that only one of four eyewitnesses ever identified Santillan as the gunman.
The case sat for years until the Dallas County District Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Unit renewed its investigation in 2021 and agreed to submit a jersey tied to the crime scene for newer DNA testing, per the same organization's account. That testing turned up profiles from two unknown individuals on the jersey's cuffs, and a CODIS hit on one of them ultimately led investigators to the person who provided information identifying the actual perpetrator — DNA testing that, per WFAA's reporting, led investigators to Nevarez.
Release, Exoneration and a Formal Clearing of His Name
Accounts differ on exactly when Santillan walked free. CBS News reported he was released from prison in December 2022 after more than 25 years behind bars, while WFAA's reporting places his release in 2023. What both accounts agree on is the next step: in March 2023, a Dallas County judge dismissed the murder charge against Santillan, formally clearing his name, according to CBS News.
Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot said at the time that Santillan's DNA was never on the jersey investigators believed the real perpetrator wore. Creuzot said Santillan lost more than 25 years of his life for a crime he did not commit, and called the case an important step toward accountability for Wittman's murder and his family. He said officials must pursue the truth, correct past injustices, and hold the responsible person accountable.
Part of a Larger, Troubling Pattern
Santillan's ordeal fits into a much larger national picture of wrongful convictions overturned through DNA and renewed investigation. The National Registry of Exonerations recorded 147 exonerations in 2024 alone, with official misconduct playing a role in at least 104 of those cases. Homicide exonerations made up 85 of that total, and perjury or other false accusations were identified in 106 cases — 72 percent of all exonerations tracked that year.
People exonerated in 2024 lost an average of 13.5 years to wrongful imprisonment, according to the registry, and Texas led all states with 26 exonerations that year, more than any other state in the country. Since 1989, the registry has logged 3,646 exonerations nationwide, with murder convictions making up the largest single category at 39 percent of the total.
For Santillan, the Dallas County District Attorney's Office has said his exoneration marked the county's 43rd overall exoneration involving actual innocence since 2001, when the state's post-conviction DNA statute took effect.
