In 1994, Anna Vasquez, Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, and Kristie Mayhugh were accused of a horrible sexual assault crime against Ramirez’s nieces that simply never happened.  Her nieces were forced by their father, Javier Limon, to create and back this story after Ramirez rejected Limon’s advances on her.  All four women went to court after pleading innocent.

 

The main bases of the prosecution were the testimony of the two girls and the testimony of pediatric scientist Dr. Nancy Kellogg.  The first major issue with the case was the flawed testimony of the two girls who were not consistent with their story throughout the case.  The second major issue was that Kellogg’s claim that the girls had scarring that must have been as a result of sexual assault was simply wrong.  This claim and persistence from Dr. Kellogg was a major reason the 4 women ended up getting convicted.  Additionally, all four women were lesbian and during a time of “Satanic Panic” in a conservative San Antonio and Bexar County, the women were framed as evil, Satanist, lesbians throughout the case which likely influenced the decision of the jury.

 

Ramirez, who stood trial separately from the other three, would received a guilty verdict and a sentence of 37 ½ years for child sexual assault while the other three women would receive 15 years for child sexual assault.  

 

After years of fighting and a continued maintenance of their innocence, the case would attract the attention of biologist Darrell Otto from Canada who explained the the case did not match that of a regular sexual assault case and found that the evidence Dr. Kellogg used could now be proven to be faulty and inconclusive.  Additionally, one of the nieces who had been silent since the conviction recanted her statement and joined the fight for exoneration, claiming that she had been threatened and forced by her father to maintain her story.  After almost 14 years in prison, Anna Vasquez was finally released and would fight for the innocence and release of the other three women from the outside.  In 2016, the San Antonio 4 were finally exonerated.  

 

Anna Vasquez now works with the Innocence Project of Texas, the group which is responsible for fighting for the exoneration of the 4 and helps to raise awareness and educate people about wrongful convictions.  I had the chance to speak with Mrs. Vasquez and learned about the major importance for raising awareness of the issue as that is the main way change is likely to happen.