Innocence Project online - CBS News online - South Texas Crime Stories 2022 -
Justice at Last: San Antonio 4 Are Declared Innocent: In 1997 and 1998, four young and close-knit female friends were convicted of raping two little girls in 1994 in San Antonio, Texas, and were sentenced to prison although evidence pointed to their innocence. The women – Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez – who became known as the San Antonio Four, fought their wrongful convictions for more than 20 years. Finally, last Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declared them innocent.
In 2013, Mike Ware and the Innocence Project of Texas filed for post-conviction relief on behalf of Ramirez, Mayhugh, Rivera and Vasquez based on key pieces of evidence that seriously raised doubt around the integrity of their convictions.
First, one of the alleged victims recanted, admitting that she’d been forced by her family to accuse Ramirez, her aunt, of sexual abuse. Second, the medical examiner who testified against the women also recanted. She said that her testimony – that the little girls showed physical signs of sexual assault – was scientifically inaccurate.
In 1997 and 1998, four young and close-knit female friends were convicted of raping two little girls in 1994 in San Antonio, Texas, and were sentenced to prison although evidence pointed to their innocence. The women – Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez – who became known as the San Antonio Four, fought their wrongful convictions for more than 20 years. Finally, last Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declared them innocent.
In 2013, Mike Ware and the Innocence Project of Texas filed for post-conviction relief on behalf of Ramirez, Mayhugh, Rivera and Vasquez based on key pieces of evidence that seriously raised doubt around the integrity of their convictions.
First, one of the alleged victims recanted, admitting that she’d been forced by her family to accuse Ramirez, her aunt, of sexual abuse. Second, the medical examiner who testified against the women also recanted. She said that her testimony – that the little girls showed physical signs of sexual assault – was scientifically inaccurate. Innocence Project online
Texas’ highest criminal court on Wednesday exonerated four San Antonio women who spent almost 15 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting two girls, opening the door for the women to seek potentially millions of dollars in state compensation.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the so-called ‘San Antonio 4’ – Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez – were innocent. The decision will allow the criminal records of all four women to be expunged. CBS News online article 23rd November 2016
They are known as the San Antonio 4, a group of friends wrongly convicted in the 1990s; all four accused of satanic rituals on two little girls and charged with aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a child. South Texas Crime Stories: Satanic Panic, Youtube short 19.19, 2022
One of the four women [Ramirez] telling her story and how she fought and never gave up hope … The punishment: 15 years on prison. ibid.
‘The scientific proof which Dr Nancy Kellog had testified to was now basically junk science.’ ibid. Ramirez