Lorenzo Vasquez and Ismael Vasquez

Lorenzo Vasquez spent over a decade in prison for a murder he did not commit. Despite being innocent, Lorenzo’s brother, Ismael Vasquez, spent over 15 years for the same murder. Three other men also lost years of their lives to imprisonment for a crime they did not commit.

Early in the morning of August 4, 1992, Vernon Huggins, an African-Americanman, was murdered in Toledo, Ohio. He had been beaten and his skull shattered into pieces. After three months, the case was labeled inactive. It was reopened in December after a call was made to Crime Stoppers. That call led police to interview Lisa Earl.

Ms. Earl said that members of a gang called “Bishops” hung out at her house on Yates Street. This led to the interviews of John Urbina, Michelle Parkhurst, and Joey Hall. All three gave inconsistent testimony about members of the gang bragging about beating up a Black man. In February, detectives took 16-year-old Eric Misch to the police station for questioning. The detectives threatened Mr. Misch saying that he would be in prison until he was 50 years old if he did not confess to the crime and fed him facts about the crime to aid in his confession. After giving a statement incriminating himself along with 24-year-old Joseph Rickard, 20-year-old Louis Costilla Jr., 16-year-old Ismael, and 17-year-old Lorenzo in the crime, he was allowed to go home where he immediately recanted the statement. When the police called the next day looking for Mr. Misch to provide his statement to a grand jury, Mr. Misch told them he would not testify and that his previous statement was false. Mr. Misch was arrested a few days later as were Ismael and Lorenzo, Costilla, and Rickard.
During trial, the crime was portrayed by the prosecution as one motivated by racism. All witness testimony given during the trial was inconsistent and displayed signs of testimony manipulation by police, including the testimony surrounding a photographic line-up. Mr. Misch’s recorded incriminating statement was provided as evidence, and the detective denied threatening
Misch. After being found guilty, Mr. Misch was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Less than two months later, Ismael and Lorenzo entered Alford pleas, which allowed them to maintain their innocence while conceding that the prosecution had sufficient evidence to obtain convictions. They were each sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, as were Messrs. Rickard and Costilla.

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