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Chapter 1: What led to Evaristo Salas Jr.'s wrongful conviction?
There he is, in the flesh. Mate, it's so good to see you face to face. Our first time chatting face to face after all these months, my friend. It's fantastic to finally get to do it this way as opposed to, you know, over the phone and waiting for the inevitable you have one minute remaining.
Yeah, exactly. I mean, and I'm in actual much, this is my childhood room right here that I was in when I went to prison, you know what I mean?
So...
Hello, and welcome back to One Minute Remaining. My name is Jack Lawrence, the host and creator of this show. And today is part one of the final part of the story of Evaristo Salas Jr. Convicted of murder at 16, a murder he always maintained he was innocent of. And finally, the courts agree.
MUSIC PLAYS
In November of 2022, I sat down at home and began, as I normally do, to scroll through a streaming service, this one being Stan, a streaming service here in Australia. I was checking out what true crime shows were on offer to watch that night when I came across a show called Wrong Man.
A show that was looking at the stories of three men who all claim to be innocent of the crimes they've been convicted of. And one of those men was named Evaristo Salas Jr.
Our show, Wrong Man, details three people who claim to be innocent of the charges they are convicted of. Evaristo Salas was convicted of shooting Jose Areola. On the Salas case, he said, you forced him to lie. You are kidding. Yeah. He said, we set up Salas.
There are just too many problems. The two-episode story of Evaristo Salas Jr. was truly gripping. My jaw was on the floor with the evidence that had been uncovered. It was astounding. Yet the show ended on a bombshell with no word on what had become of this man.
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Chapter 2: How did a true crime show uncover Evaristo's story?
I know. Phoebe, what the hell happened? I don't know. We walked in at 9 o'clock and at 9.02, the prosecutor was saying that the judge announced that he was remembered. I know. I think we already cried so much.
Well, let's talk about that week of going to that trial because you were doing it via video link. Talk me through that first.
I had the option of actually going to the county jail and having the hearing there. But I opted for being in the prison because to leave the prison with Take away my opportunity and my job. I might not get it back if I come back to prison or when I get back from the courts. And the cell that I was in, too, the room that I was in, I could lose that in the process of going to the county jail.
Not to mention the trip over there. So it was just a big hassle. So I opted to actually stay in the prison and do the Zoom because it was just simply more easier for me. Yeah. But that first day I went, I had some anxiety, but I just pictured it would be me kind of listening to the people that I haven't seen for a number of years, two decades.
They would just go back and say what they've already said before. They wouldn't kind of veer off in any kind of way.
Junior says as soon as he arrived in court via Zoom on day one, the actions of the judge gave him instant hope that finally he would get a fair trial. How did he know this? For the simplest of reasons that most of us would just think was common courtesy. She actually acknowledged him.
What I noticed with the judge, the first thing I noticed with her is that she acknowledged me. She had a side portrait of her. So in order for her to look at me or the camera, she had to face this way. And so the first thing she did is when I went in there is acknowledge me. Send me my name.
First asked me if it was my idea or if I waived my right to actually be there for her and have it over the Zoom, which I said yes. And she made sure that it was my right to be there. But since I wanted to be in a Zoom, that she was OK with that.
But that if I had any questions or anything at any time, wave her down and stop her and that she'll go ahead and put us to recess so we can kind of figure it out. Not only that, but she asked me, well, how are you doing this morning? And just kind of and which was so the last judge I had didn't even didn't even look in that direction. He didn't acknowledge me a single time.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Evaristo face in his fight for a new trial?
Who proved it? I don't remember. Why did you get a truck? I don't remember. So every single, almost every single question, I don't recall, I don't remember. We basically didn't get nothing, anything out of her, you know what I mean? So I figured, well, You know, that's the way it's all going to go.
It's highly frustrating, too, because it's like you've got nothing to work with. And if she just keeps going, I don't remember, then you've got nothing to go with or nothing to work with.
Exactly. It was pretty frustrating for me. But I kind of assumed that with her. I assumed that she was going to be stuck in whatever she was going to be stuck in. And that she wasn't going to give nothing up because maybe she feared that it was going to come back on her or she just didn't want to be there.
So she was going to, as soon as she did that the first two or three times, I knew that was going to be her strategy. And that was probably going to be the strategy of the other witnesses.
Up next was Detective Trevino. Now, if you watch the Wrong Man show, you will see Detective Trevino being quizzed by an investigator, specifically regarding the release of the truck to Ophelia. Detective Trevino was the one in charge of the evidence in this case, but says on the show that at no stage did he or anyone else sign off on the release of that truck.
Then they had the officer, Trevino, get up there and he kind of did the same thing almost. He answered what he needed to answer when it comes to the prosecutor's attorney, but when my lawyer asked kind of pressing questions, he went back to, I don't recall him. I don't remember, or I don't recall. I was like, okay, this is the way it's gonna go.
After that, through the first day or two, I was like, oh man, you know, maybe it's gonna just, or the first day I was like, yes, this is probably what it's gonna be. You know, this is going to be just a hearing. They're just going to keep saying that. Then we're going to have to go to the Court of Appeals.
So sadly, no major breakthroughs there. The next to get up would be Bill Braun, the man that would be brought in as the prosecution's informant, a man who said that Junior bragged about this killing. However, would later come forward to say that his testimony was completely false and that he had been given leniency on other charges as well as a payment for his testimony.
The foreman got up there Wednesday, and when he gave his statement, he was... What made him more credible to me was that he... The way he spoke, he didn't seem like it was rehearsed. He just kind of spoke the way he speaks, you know what I mean? And he spoke in those kind of terms.
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