John ,

In September 1986, a fire broke out in a two-flat apartment building in Southwest Chicago, killing siblings Guadalupe and Julio Martinez.

Soon after, police arrested teenagers John Galvan, Arthur Almendarez, and Francisco Nanez despite there being no physical evidence tying them to the crime. The three young men were wrongly convicted and spent a collective 105 years in prison for a crime they did not commit.

Then in 2007, John was about 21 years into a life sentence when he saw something on an episode of the Discovery Channel’s MythBusters that he thought might finally help prove his innocence.

Read more about John’s story and learn how the re-run of a science-based TV show helped him regain his freedom: [[link removed]]

This particular MythBusters episode, “Hollywood on Trial,” sees the show’s hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage attempt to reproduce famous scenes and commonly used plot devices from Hollywood films with the goal of ascertaining their scientific validity.

And one of the questions they were investigating caught John’s attention: Can a lit cigarette really ignite a pool of gasoline?

When John, Arthur, and Francisco were arrested, they were interrogated and intimidated for hours. John, who was a teenager at the time, falsely confessed after police handcuffed him to a wall and beat him. The statement detectives had him sign said that the three young men started the fire by throwing a bottle filled with gasoline at the building and then tossing a cigarette into the pool of gasoline on the porch to ignite it.

So when John saw the hosts repeatedly attempt to ignite a pool of gasoline with a lit cigarette — and fail — he couldn’t wait to tell his Innocence Project attorney Tara Thompson. “I remember I was excited, I was extremely happy because that just added to the other things that were coming together at that time. I felt like finally this is starting to all come out,” John recalled.

Serendipitously, Tara caught the same re-run, and after talking with John about it, they both realized that they needed to investigate the arson science aspect of his case further.

John finally had his evidentiary hearing on his post-conviction claims in 2017 where Tara and the rest of his legal team presented an alibi witness, in addition to seven witnesses who testified to being tortured by the same officers who had coerced his confession. There were also documents showing that police had fabricated probable cause to arrest him, and an arson expert who testified that John’s false confession was scientifically impossible.

Finally, earlier this year John, Arthur, and Francisco were exonerated when the Office of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed their cases.

Please take a moment today to read more about John’s case and how MythBusters helped him secure his freedom: [[link removed]]

Thank you for your support,

— The Innocence Project Team

P.S. If you’d like to help John rebuild his life after 35 years of wrongful incarceration, you can donate to his personal fundraising page or fulfill items on his Amazon Wish List.
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Amazon Wish List: [[link removed]]


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The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit. Our work is guided by science and grounded in antiracism.

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