John —
We want to tell you about a new documentary, The Phantom, that digs into the case of Carlos DeLuna, who was executed in 1989 for a crime he always said he didn’t commit.
[link removed]
Carlos was arrested in 1983 and charged with murdering Wanda Lopez, a single mother who was stabbed to death while working at a convenience store in Corpus Christi, Texas. He consistently maintained his innocence and even gave the name of the man who he saw commit the crime: Carlos Hernandez. But his claim was dismissed entirely with few efforts to find this potential suspect. A federal judge accepted the state's assurance that Carlos Hernandez had likely never existed and was a “phantom.” Carlos DeLuna was tragically convicted and sentenced to death.
Evidence uncovered years after DeLuna’s execution reveals not only that Carlos Hernandez existed, but that he was well-known to police and prosecutors at the time of trial and had a long history of violent crimes similar to the one for which DeLuna was executed.
Take a moment to watch the newly-released trailer for The Phantom. Then, join us and our partners in signing this petition asking President Biden to commute the sentences of those on federal death row now.
[link removed]
The Phantom reveals new evidence of Carlos DeLuna’s innocence through on-the-record statements by eyewitnesses, prosecutors, and trial attorneys, and is a searing indictment of the prejudice and discrimination faced by the Latinx community. For example, Carlos was arrested based on a suggestive eyewitness identification procedure in which he sat handcuffed in the back of a police car.
What happened to Carlos DeLuna is devastating, and it’s exactly why the death penalty should not exist. Since 1973, at least 185 people across the U.S. have been wrongly sentenced to death and subsequently exonerated. But those are just the cases we know of.
Execution is irreversible — that’s why we’re asking you to take a moment to watch the trailer for the documentary, and then sign the petition to President Biden asking him to commute the sentences of people on federal death row, so that maybe we can save someone else from sharing Carlos DeLuna’s fate.
[link removed]
Thank you for your support.
— The Innocence Project Team
Add your name:
[link removed]
Shop: [link removed]
Donate: [link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
[link removed]
Copyright © 2021 Innocence Project, All rights reserved.
212.364.5340
[email protected]
unsubscribe from all emails
[link removed]
update subscription preferences
[link removed]
