Park Ridge Herald-Advocate

Man acquitted of 1993 murder for which teen sent to prison

 

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE January 18, 2013 6:50PM

An Indiana man charged with a 20-year-old murder — a killing for which a another man wrongly served 16 years in prison — was found not guilty Thursday.

Juan Carlos Torres — arrested in 2009 and accused of the Feb. 3, 1993, killing Eric Morro — but was found not guilty after a bench trial, according to court records. Morro, 19, was fatally shot in the 3100 block of West Belmont as he walked with a 14-year-old friend.

Thaddeus Jimenez served 16 years, 2 months and 27 days in prison for the murder before he was exonerated and released in 2009, after two witnesses recanted their testimonies. Jimenez was arrested at age 13 and is perhaps the youngest person in U.S. history to be wrongly convicted and exonerated.

Jimenez was arrested again in 2010 when he was found with 13 grams of suspected LSD in his Park Ridge home, prosecutors said. He also had three loaded weapons, six GPS navigation devices, six boxes of ammunition, two digital scales and numerous plastic bags.




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