Gerardo Cabanillas was wrongfully convicted for a rape, robbery, and kidnapping that occurred in 1995. What started as a misidentification turned into a false confession when investigators tricked him into admitting to the crime. Due to his youthful inexperience, Cabanillas trusted investigators when they told him that he could go home… if he confessed.

Most Americans don’t know that police are allowed to lie to suspects when they investigate crime. Among the many things they can lie about are evidence, probation deals, witnesses, punishments, and more. There is a causal link between those lies and false confessions during the course of interrogations.

It took DNA evidence and many years of hard work from the The Innocence Center and California Western Innocence and Justice Clinic to prove Cabanillas was innocent. He would be exonerated in the Los Angeles Superior Court on September 21, 2023 after serving 28 years behind bars for crimes he did not commit. The mini-documentary above is about Gerardo Cabanillas, his legal team, and what it took to set him free.

To learn more about his story, please also see this Associated Press Article.

Written by:

Laurence Colletti