In July of 1994 Angel Gonzalez was living in a Chicago suburb after migrating to the United States from Mexico. At twenty years old, he was getting ready to apply for American citizenship. Then, he was convicted for kidnapping and raping a 35-year-old woman.
Pulled over in a traffic stop, Gonzalez’s appearance, car, and clothes matched the attackers’ descriptions. The victim identified Gonzalez as one of two perpetrators.
"He was wearing the same clothes, everything. I recognized him immediately," the victim said in her testimony.
To make matters, Gonzalez signed a confession written by police. The court accepted the confession, despite the fact that the Mexican national did not speak much English. It seemed like an open-and-shut case. Yet Gonzalez maintained his innocence, and never gave up hope.
"Deep in my heart I felt like one day - somehow, someway, I didn't know how - help was going to arrive. From where, I didn't know at the time. And it was just going to be cleared up," Gonzalez said in an interview with ABC Chicago.
Help arrived in the form of new DNA testing of semen left on the victim’s clothes, which identified two separate attackers, neither of whom was Gonzalez, according to the Chicago Tribune. DNA testing in 1994 was inconclusive. He was exonerated this week, largely thanks to the Innocence Project. Officials from USCIS announced that they had canceled a detention retainer upon learning of his exoneration.
Now 41 years old, Gonzalez has been reunited with his family, many of whom have become U.S. citizens in the 20 years that he was locked up. Gonzalez says that he doesn’t hold a grudge. He intends to reestablish his application for citizenship.
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