SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A Santa Clara County, Calif., jury found a man innocent of killing a woman in a trial that included a jailhouse witness found not credible in another case.
It was the second trial for Roy Lopez Garcia, who spent eight years in prison for the 1998 death of his neighbor, Deborah Gregg, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News said Wednesday. His original conviction was overturned because the trial judge improperly permitted jurors to visit the crime scene without Garcia or his attorney, the News said.
The prosecution during both trials included testimony from a convicted murderer who testified that Garcia incriminated himself when the two were in custody together, the News said. Before Garcia's second trial, a federal judge found the witness "entirely without credibility" in another trial.
At the same time, a state commission was studying the unreliability of jailhouse informants, the newspaper said. Experts advising the commission said they were concerned about using a jailhouse informant as a witness, especially after he was found not to be credible, the News said.
The prosecution had no physical evidence linking Garcia to the crime, the newspaper said.
