Recent DNA testing results in overturning wrongful conviction in over 40-year-old case
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – On Thursday, the 1983 rape conviction of Richard Luna was vacated after recent DNA testing of evidence collected at the time proved the perpetrator was someone else.
Since 2022, the Ventura County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative has conducted an ongoing review of previously untested kits and for the first time, a wrongful conviction has been overturned shared the Ventura County District Attorney's Office in a press release Thursday.
"While we can’t undo the past, we can use the power of DNA technology to exonerate the wrongfully convicted," said District Attorney Nasarenko. "This case underscores our responsibility as prosecutors to examine the integrity of our convictions and seek justice on behalf of those who served time for crimes they never committed."
According to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, testing was overseen by the Ventura County Sheriff's Forensic Services Bureau and the DNA profile developed by the test was matched to a person already in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) that wasn't Luna.
After the results definitively showed Luna did not contribute to the biological evidence collected at the time, the District Attorney's Office contacted Luna, the survivor, and the Ventura County Public Defender's Office about the findings noted the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
On Thursday, the court approved the motion to vacate Luna's conviction and found him factually innocent shared the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
Due to the statute of limitations, the person who was identified will not be charged in connection with the 1982 sexual assault added the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
In 1983, a jury convicted Luna of sexual assault and he was later sentenced to six years in state prison.
The Ventura County District Attorney Office shared that it established the Conviction Integrity Unit to review credible claims on innocence to provide an extra layer of review outside of the appellate process.
Since the testing of untested kits began, almost two dozen kits have confirmed the identity of the convicted suspected added the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
