DNA TESTING EXCLUDES HUSBAND OF JUSTICE:DENIED VOLUNTEER!!!
Juan Rivera was notified on March 24, 2005 that DNA tests had excluded him as the
rapist/murderer of 11-year-old Holly Staker in Waukegan, Illinois in 1992. After
being intensely interrogated for four days, police allege that the 20-year-old Juan
confessed to Holly's rape and murder. Juan later testified that he had nothing to
do with the crime, and that he had no memory of confessing and was coerced into signing
the confession that the police admit they wrote. No physical evidence or eyewitnesses
linked Juan to the crime, and an electronic bracelet he was wearing due to a burglary
conviction established he was home at the time of the crime. However based solely
on the alleged confession, Juan was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in
1993. After Juan's conviction and sentence were reversed in 1996 due to errors by
the trial judge, he was again convicted in 1998 after a retrial and sentenced to
life in prison. Juan was aided by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern
University School of Law in having DNA tests performed on physical evidence left
by Holly's attacker. Juan's lawyers have filed a Motion for a New Trial based on
the exclusionary DNA test results.
New Trial Ordered For Juan Rivera on August 29, 2006!! Click here to read the Chicago
Sun-Times' news story!
Juan Rivera is the husband of long-time Justice:Denied volunteer Melissa Sanders-Rivera,
who has been actively aiding her husband.
Justice:Denied (Issue 27, Winter 2005) features five articles related to false confessions.
They help explain how innocent people are victimized by modern police interrogation
techniques that are designed to extract a confession without regard for its truth
or falsity. Click here to go to the Table of Contents for Justice:Denied Issue 27.
Click on the article you want to read, or read the entire issue in PDF format.
