#452 Lauren Bright Pacheco with Miguel Solorio

Tens of thousands of people incarcerated in the US have been wrongfully convicted and are being held in captivity for crimes, even as they adamantly maintain their innocence. What's it like to be one of those imprisoned people, and what's it like to be their ally, the one outside committed to fighting for their freedom. I'm Lauren Bride Pacheco, and this is wrongful conviction. Miguel Salario was falsely accused of taking part in a drive by shooting when he was nineteen

I was born in July seventh of nineteen seventy nine. I was born in Mexico and michal Kan. I have three older brothers and two older sisters. Mom. Mom came to the United States because they wanted a better life, and at that time she wasn't with my father no more so while I was six months she left me. My other sisters were taking care of me, so I was like kind of raced without my mother at that time.

You had older brothers when you moved from Mexico. What was the community like? And we're gangs a big part of the community, you know what.

Growing up I was just associating with, like with the wrong crowd and everything. You know, I was abandoned, neglected, and they gave me like some kind of like affection like my parents couldn't give me because me, I like to party, have fun, drink and have a good time. And you know, especially when your youth, that's where you get to meet girls, have good time, work and everything. You know, that's not a crime to meet people, you know, So it was.

More like a social outlet for you. Yes, but it's something that was used against you because the police then had you on their radar because of it. Yes, Now you know you mentioned that you were a smart kid, and you showed that promise academically too. How did you get the nickname clever?

So it happens to be that out of all the crowd I was hanging around with, I was the only one that really was going to school, educating myself and trying to accomplish a dream, my vision I had trying to do some succeed in life. So that's how the name came about.

What were your dreams? What were your ambitions when you were a young teenager?

So back in the nineties, I remember in the nineties of Microsoft, I loved computers for high school, and I said, you know what, after I graduate, I'm going to work in an office one day and climb the ladder. I want to dress on a sue ties dress is shoes and just claim the latter. That was my vision. So sure enough, I was the first one of my family to graduate high school. I was trying to set a good example class of ninety seven. And right after that

All right now. At this same time, a lovely young lady by the name of Sylvia had already entered your life. Tell me a little bit about first laying eyes on Sylvia. How did you guys meet and what did you think?

One time we had like a little kickback and it was like twenty my friends and a lot of girls. And I remember I'm always looking around and I see this pretty woman sitting on the couch. Plus she had long hair too at that time, like very long, and I love long hair. So I approached her, I introduced myself and we started talking and then she's like, hey, so what are you do in life? And I'm like, oh, I work in a warehouse fifty to fifty five hours a week and I also go to college. And she

That's why I say, never told a book by a discover. Yeah, I didn't believe him, but then he pulled out his college ID, so you know, I saw he had something going for himself, and you know, we just started talking and exchanged phone numbers and got to know each other from there.

What was it about the connection that you guys had that made this feel so different for you? Sylvia?

His personality. He's got a great outgoing personality, always happy, smiling, so during the moments I would be feeling down, he would just be there to lift me up. So it was just like that connection that we had.

What what was it about Sylvia? How was she different from other girls you'd known and you dated.

I felt so much connection went there because I'm always kind of like a hermit right there. But with hers, She'll come and let's go to Santa Monica Beach, and I loved that. I was like, you know what, I like that going to the Griffith Park Observatory looking at the stars, just me and her bonding doing things together. So I was like, man, I like this relationship.

You told me me that your dreams for the future up until that point were computers and climbing the corporate ladder. Now it sounds like Sylvia became part of that future too.

Yes, and she was also going to college too, working, so we were always like, you know, trying to accomplish goals with one another, like she was doing something and she was doing something. But she ended up getting her AA degree, so she accomplished her dream. Unfortunately with me, like I was starting college and just with the blink of an eye, my life just got stolen. I was like, WHOA, unbelievable.

So it wasn't nine months later that both of your worlds entirely changed after meeting at that party.

Yes, both of our lives just changed, the whole one pint eighty and all that completely.

Take me to the night that changed everything for both of you.

So that day of December sixth and ninety eight, it was a Sunday, my day off from work in school. So remember we were talking and I was like, hey, what do you want to do today? She's like, watch a good movie. We'll watch you right there and Wado really send them was in uptown Waditer, So she decided to pick that movie cycle. So we end up going and for some reason, the movie was kind of boring. I'm not even enjoying it. She's like, well, you know what,

And then Sylvia, why don't you pick it up from there?

Yeah, so after the movies, we just we drove down with your boulevard and went to his sister, Sandra's house and peta Riverta. She had a little gathering there and that's where we remained the rest of the night.

So you guys are hanging out there, and then at some point, Miguel, your brother Pedro leaves to go get beer. I think did he ever come back while you guys were there.

Not that I recall, you know, because we were there probably like close to midnight, you know, And we end up leaving like wrong midnight or so, she dropped me off at my house and waitier and I told her, hey, when you get home, Paige me so I could know you got home safe. So she ended up paging me, and we spoke out into like one thirty word of both like you hang up, no, you hang up, you know, one of them kind of things at that time. So

So it was just an ordinary night for you two. But that same evening, an eighty one year old woman named Mary Bramlett was shot from another car while she was stopped at a red light and later died. Six people who were driving in a car nearby and had seen the shooter minutes before, were later called as witnesses by the police, and one of them, Angelica Martinez, thought that she had heard someone shout your nickname, Clever, and that she maybe recognized you based on a photo array

On December ninth. Three days later, I believe like around six or seven in the morning, you know, I was Bredy getting ready to go to school and go get my day started.

I remember that day clearly. There was probably about twenty cop cars surrounding his house. Looking out the window and I'm like, oh my god, why are these cop cars here? I mean, we had no clue. I had no clue what was going on.

So they raid my house and I'm like, what's going on? Like swarmed in and they handcuffed me, and you're being on the rest we got to question. You're like, okay, I.

Was even treated as a criminal. They put me in the cop car. I was only nineteen. You know, it can be intimidating. I've never been inside of a cop car before. Once they had searched the whole house, I remember one of the officers had told me what they were trying to charge Migual for, and I told him, like, that's impossible. He was with me the whole time. He couldn't have done this, you know. And from that Sunday it was an ordinary day that me and him had

And so you guys get to the station and then what happens, you.

Know, Like they took me and tied to Picco diveda shares and they questioned me. They read me my rights and everything, and they're like, what did you do? December sixth, nineteen ninety. They're like, oh, well, you want to turning go no, I'll cooperate. I'll tell you exactly what I'm what I did, and what same story that I was with her and everything, just like that I was with her and I was, you know, my whole day because my day off from work. They didn't really say too much,

So Detective macldairy said you saw this for me or I'm charging you with the crime exactly now. Was that the first time you had ever met Detective mackldery.

Yes, that was the only time I ever heard of that name Macldery.

You know, had you ever had any run ins with the law before that.

I had a dui before with a CHP officer, but I never been to in and out of prison. Don't got no criminal history or nothing like that. So all I've been really arrested was like for like a misdemeanor.

And then two days later they have to release you because there's not sufficient evidence to keep you.

They raised in my house, they didn't find nothing, no weapons, no nothing, they have nothing. They released me on a Friday night. So after I got released, I told Siviy, you know what, we have to go back to the theaters, go retreat the Survelliance tape. So we go show the credibility of what we're saying is the truth. So we went back on Sunday and we went and we talked to mister John Murray. I told him the situation, I'm being falsely accused. I need to first, I told you,

Because you guys both knew that you not only had an alibi, you were one another's alibis. Were you sure that this would just blow over, Miguel.

You know what, like I never I never knew that this would actually happen, you know, I was, like you believe in the justice system and everything. Like I was just still I'm still shot disappointed.

Actually, so, Sylvia, you also had interaction with the same detective. Can you tell me about being questioned by Detective macaeldairy and how you felt about those interactions?

As time passed by mcaelderry and another detective came to my job in Baldwin Park where I was working at at the time, and started questioning me. They even threatened me if I wasn't saying the truth, they were going to throw me in behind bars. I was looking at jail time, so, you know, a lot of intimidation trying to take me to jail because they thought I was covering up for him.

Did they ever try to get you to turn on the goun.

They tried to get me to turn on him. They would ask me questions as far as he was ever mean to me, or you know, he's a dangerous person. You need to stay away from him, and like none of that is even true.

And then it's kind of like you were thrown into the court of public opinion even before you even saw the inside of a courtroom, because the day you were arrested, your photo was plastered on the front page of the local paper.

Yes, when I got released afterwards, my whole face was shown in the newspaper with your daily news on the media of the news, and I was so humiliated. Pull yourself from my shoes. Your face is being human aid telling the world that you come into a crime, that you killed this individual, and your whole faate muction's right there. How humiliating could that be? You know, it's like the worst feeling of person could feel.

You know, But after your photo had been made public, two of the people who had been in that second car were again shown your picture in a photo array, this time on a group of people who were gathered near a van in the Quiet Village Gangs area. You were in that group, Miguel, but about fifteen feet away

Like I mentioned maclberry, since I was in cooperative man, I had no knowledge, Soul. I didn't do his dirty job. He's like, you know what I told Migil, whether he was gifts or now all going to come after he kept this word, they found that three fifty seven. I'm not knowing that's the weaponr what it was. And again here comes again storming in my house, marsh on fifth, and they arrest me. I was like again like like, what's going on here? And this nightmare is turning it all over again.

So, Sylvia, how did you find out that he was arrested for the second time?

My sister in law at the time. She called me and she said, hey, you know, they arrested Miguel second time. I'm like what I was like, Oh my goodness, Like this nightmare it's about to begin, you know. And it was a horrible feeling.

Miguel, you're charged with first degree murder for the shooting of Bramlett and six counts of assault with a firearm for all of the passengers that were also in the other vehicle.

I remember in August of ninety nine, I went to court and I remember the Diegos honored we're going to drop the death penalty on Miguel and we're going to give him life without the possibility of parole. And I was just shocked, like, oh, these people are trying to kill me. If they were trying to give me the death penalty, like are you serious?

And so you knew going into that trial that you were up against the system in a horrible way. What was that like that period for both of you as he's awaiting trial, because you've been taken away from life as you know it, and you've been taken away from each other. Sylvia, how did you try to support Miguel during that time?

It was hard because for me about the justice system took someone that meant so much to me. They took him away, and that feeling is it was like an agony feeling, a feeling of agony that of anguish you just you can't control. So I have to learn how to accept. Okay, they took him away, and after adapting accepting what had happened, I learned to cope with it and be you know, his basically his advocate.

What point did you make that decision? Did you realize that you were going to be there for him no matter what.

Since day one, since the time of the incident that happened.

Miguel, would you have just assumed that after nine months, this young woman with a bright future and ambitions would stick to you and stick by you the way she has.

I remember that as I mentioned about the that penalty, I give her a car and I explained to her what happened. And she's a Miguel, You're completely innocent. I know for fact, I was with you that night. We're gonna fight, and from that moment on we were determined to, you know, do whatever it takes to fight and get justice. Be your voice, be heard, to find no matter.

What right, and then Miguel. The trial began in February of two thousand. Two of the witnesses from the second car were called to testify. Martin Leva identified Miguel, but Angelica Martinez admitted on the stand that she wasn't sure it was you. She said, it kind of looked like you. And that's interesting because, as it would turn out, it was your brother Pedro, who was in the car that night, in a car that was registered to your father.

So the interesting part about Angelica, right on the first sixpect they showed to the witnesses, did not select me. They selected somewhere else.

And so in six pack, you mean the photos of suspects that they show the witnesses a.

Lineup, you have like a six different individuals. On the first one, I didn't even get picked out. The second time, Angelica selects my picture right after I came out in the media, and everything contaminates the mind of a witness, and.

They actually the defense brought your brother Pedro into the courtroom and on the stand, Angelica couldn't identify you as the driver. Exactly what was it like sitting in that courtroom and having that unfold because it becomes increasingly obvious that it's not just a case of mistaken identity. You've been mistaken for your brother.

Yeah, just like the whole situation, like being involved, being in the newspaper, and just being costly excused by these two people. It's just like so David's so hard, sad, It's just like wow, like mind blowing. That's how I was feeling at that moment.

And as the Guel's alibi witness, Sylvia, you were called to testify, but you weren't allowed to watch the trial. What was that like for you?

When the trial started meeping his alibi, I thought, Okay, this is going to be easy. You know everything that I had told mackelderry. I thought it was just all going to come forward. But obviously they withheld they withheld, you know, evidence that could have helped Miguel. So I thought everything was told, but obviously he turned everything around to his advantage.

Well, you didn't bank on the fact that, even though you were his alibi, that a detective would end up going on the stand, misrepresenting the two interviews you had with him and lying on the stand, which ultimately discredited you and weakened your strength as his alibi, right.

You think that the officer would literally speak the truth, you know, but under old he falsified information. You know, she had got interviewed by him at her job, you know, and Detective macadery did not produce that tape, and that's how he discredit her credibility, making her say that she was just covering up for me.

And then the guy who linked you to that revolver in the first place ended up admitting that he just signed whatever the detectives gave him because he didn't want to get in trouble.

Yes, he said he stated that he was threatened by mcadairy and he was so scared that he said that he heard about mcadery, what the things he could do, just put put people in prison for something that he knew, and he was scared and that's why he stated.

That, Okay, so this is this is the the clencher for me. So then the defense also were able to call McElderry to this stand and he admitted that one he had not investigated Pedro as an alternate suspect, and that he had not investigated your alibi. So that's how you're leading into the jury, going into deliberation for three days.

I was feeling conflict, feeling like optimistic, you always got to hope for the best no matter what situation you're in. And after the third day of deliberation, if they have reached a verdict, and I'm standing right there again, I remember we the jury find Miguel so lawyer guilty of first degree murder, and I remember looking at the DA and she looked at me and she just winked at me, like I got you. In my mind's like, man, you're making a mistake. You got the wrong individual, you know.

I can't I can't imagine the way that must have felt on so many levels, because you are now being sentenced to life for something you had nothing to do with, but your brother may have very well been a part of and he didn't defend you. Miguel, did you just feel betrayed by the system, by your family, by your brother.

I was just like lost in translation that how could this actually happened to me? Like wow, like you feel your heart just shattered, crushed.

I was at home at the time. I remember getting that phone call I believe was one of his family members. They had told me they found him guilty, and that's when I just I just broke down, broke down crying. I'm like, no, how could this be. Once the verdict came back as guilty, that's when you know your whole life just changes.

Do you remember that first time that you saw him after he was convicted, Sylvia.

I do. It was at the county jail, not a good place. It was very emotional, you know, seen him behind glass, not being able to hug him. You know, it was an emotional time for me.

How would you describe to somebody who hasn't experienced but that feeling of helplessness when someone you love has been convicted of a crime they didn't come.

Out agony, feelings of agony, fatness. You feel helpless with the situation someone you know being ripped out of your life from the justice system that you trust. They failed us. It was hard for me to accept what had happened to Miguel and to me.

As well, like knowing the fact that when you have a life without sentence. You're never going to see your mom, You're never gonna see day, like you're not gonna see your dad, and you're never gonna see your brother's, sister's nieces anybody. I was like, you know what, I do not want to die in prison. I want to fight no matter what, because life of doubt, your break is basically dying in prison no matter what.

You're listening to Wrongful Conviction with Lauren Bright Pacheco. You can listen to this and All the Love of for Good podcasts one week early and ad free by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. You guys make the decision three years after his conviction to get married.

Well before the three years, he had asked me to marry him. It was at the county jail and I said yes, and Niguel, you want to take it from there?

Yes, And it was September twenty fifth of two thousand and four when we got married. So I liked that song by Earthwind and Fire or September, so it reminds me of that moment, you know, And it was magical. It was something something new.

Because I mean it wasn't your traditional marriage, you know, ceremony wasn't your traditional ceremony. But when you love someone, you just you go for it. You know that's the person you want to be with.

Well, I went to visit, and I remember I wrote my little vowels she as a matter of fact, the same paper I wrote my vow she carries it with her in her wallet everywhere she goes.

If you'll share, what's one special part of them, what really sticks out to you as so very special?

The part where he says from the moment I laid eyes on you, that's the part that sticks out so this very day.

And that party when you were sitting on the couch, she knew he was looking at his future.

Wife, and I didn't even know.

You guys are still in your early twenties when you make the decision to get married. What did your friends and family think, Sylvia? Did they ever ever think that you were potentially throwing your life away?

I did have family members that try to stop me from getting married. However, I didn't let that stop me from making my decision. I fell in love with Miguel and ended up getting married to him despite people trying to convince me otherwise.

So that's a beautiful bright spot in this really dark story. Because the story doesn't end with that happy moment, it goes on for nearly another two decades. What were the darkest times for both of you? And that was there any point where you thought this is too much taking on the entire system.

A couple of the darkest times for me personally was the lockdowns when I couldn't see him from months, because prison sometimes things happen Riot's breakout. Mind you, I've never stepped to a prison in my life until I started visiting Miguel, So being in that environment, seen the surroundings, and having to deal with lockdowns, not being able to see him, that that was very hard.

Miguel. That was your day in, day out, twenty four to seven for days, weeks, months, years. When did it get too much for you?

You know? You guess that when your loved ones one three because visits are from like eight thirty to three o'clock, So you see your loved one leaving, you wish you could just hold their hands, just go leave with them, like take me with you, you know. But then like two thousand and nine, fifteen, I believe you know, we wrote the Innocence Project again, and they finally say, we

At that point, he was going to die on me if something wasn't you know, going to happen. So we had to do an emergency conservatorship. And I remember at that time questioning myself, Am I making the right decisions and just praying, praying about it and just having that faith, that hope that everything will come together, making the decision Okay, he needs a fitting tube, let's go for it.

And what was that like emotionally when he was giving up all hope physically and mentally for you, Sylvia.

Trying to support him, trying to lift up his spirits, you know, tell him, don't worry. We got this, we can't give up.

You underwent electric shock therapy.

Yes, I went to ect electric convulsive treatment like four to five times, right, And I mustn'tdmit. That's like the worst pain a human being could actually, it's almost like picture this. You know, if you put your two hands in the socket of the electricity socket and you hold on to it, you just hear fee electricity. Well, that's exactly what I was feeling. And I remember they used to tie me down. I even got burnmarks right here in the back of my thing and on my legs.

While all of this is going on, Sylvia, you've also decided that part of how you're gonna fight it is basically by becoming a private investigator. Right. You end up knowing that there are some important pieces to this puzzle, and many of them hinged with Miguel's brother Pedro, who has been writing you letters since two thousand and seven.

Well, during that time in a federal prison, him writing me, it was just casual pretty much, you know, just touching base. But I remember one of them being I wanted to get an investigator, you know, to investigate mcgl's case. He had told me I was wasting my time, wasting my money if I did. He wanted to see me in person and tell me what really went down that night. Well, only a person who knows what went down that night

And so you were able to get a statement from a woman who was involved with Patro at that time or saw him with a that night.

Yes, so I hired a private investigator and she took the declaration of another person who gave more details in regard to that.

Okay, And basically that connected Pedro to a weapon the night of the incident. And how did someone named Jose Perez come into the picture.

That night of the incident when that happened that night, I remember meeting a person named Jose. The only thing I remember about him was he had big ears and he had a white T shirt. That's all I remember.

That's interesting because one of the witnesses had mentioned that the person had big ears, and so Jose was very likely the guy that Pedro left the gathering with that night. So you had all these pieces of the puzzle in your hands, and then you were able to connect with an atturn Ernie, who's another hero in the story. Ellen Eggers. She agreed to take your case pro bono and also brought it to the Northern California Innocence Project. Correct Ellen.

I remember her telling me, Miguel, you know what, I got good news to you to tell you I've been retired. I want to take two cases, and I'm going to take yours. And I was like, thank you. You know, she's just like, she's the kind of attorney I always believe that she was the one immediately. She's the type of attorney. She's like a pit bull. She's no little chiwawa turn, She's a pip like, go get her, go

So once Ellen took his case, you know, it took so many years, but all the pieces were starting to come together and like, okay, maybe this is it, this is the turning point of the life changing.

And it happened fast. I mean after yeah, you know, almost twenty five years, so over two decades of justice moving like a frozen slug on this case and everything you guys were doing, falling on death fears. It happened in almost lightning speed. Your conviction was vacated and all charges against you were dropped. In November of twenty twenty three, you were declared factually in a cent a month later. Take me to the moment that he walked out of prison a free man.

Sylvia, Oh my goodness, where do I begin. This was tears of joy, of happiness when he walked out. I'm like, oh my goodness, Like, this is what I've been fighting for all these years, not just having my husband out, but having an innocent man finally free after so many years brought me the biggest joy in my life.

Miguel, I remember the moment they finally said like actually insud like man, it was just it's like a dream. You know when you have a good dream. It's a beautiful and you wake up. You're like, oh, lets see if I could go back to sleep and dream the same dream. Well, it's a dream. That's reality finally, Like, it's real reality of innocence. I'm happy.

So you know, you mentioned how incredible Ellen was as the attorney who made all the difference in this case, but she said, had it not been for his main alibi witness, Sylvia, who knew he was innocent, stood by him and married him after his conviction, he might never have seen this day. What words do you use to describe the gratitude you have for your wife.

I value everything she has been for me. She's been my voice. She's been there every step of the way. They say this is my favorite quote, and this is like a true friend walks in when the rest of the world walks out. Well, you know, that's and a blessing. She's been my advokay, you know. And we fought together, and she was always believed in us, and we came

Thank you, Miguel. Did you ever think that we would last this long? Despite this long journey and the ups and downs? Did you think we would ever last this long? Twenty five years later.

As soon as I started after I got convicted, I had a vision in my mind, like you know what, the love we have for one another, the connection that felt for you, what I felt in my heart, it's going to be possible. Then possible is impossible. And that's how I see my vision that that to this day.

Yeah, because sometimes you think, Okay, is this situation going to break you? Or is it going to make you stronger? And reflecting back at everything is it's only made us a lot stronger. Having that hope, that faith, that perseverance. You don't become bitter, You just you become more wise and more humble with the situation.

Right. We value each other, We don't take each other for granted, and we just keep pushing no matter what, and we stay had and half marching forward no matter what situation we fase.

Wow, you guys very much meant those vows you took while you were in prison. Yes, thank you for listening to Wrongful Conviction. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco. Please support your local innocence organizations and go to the links in the episode description to see how you can help. I'd like to thank our executive producers Jason Flam, Jeff Kempler, and Kevin Wardis, as well as our producers Annie Chelsea, Kathleen Fink, and Jackie Pauley. This series is produced, edited, and hosted