Key Documents

Sworn affidavits from a variety of witnesses show how the cases against Alberto and Jesus were erected on foundations of sand. Witnesses that could have provided vital information to police and prosecutors were never contacted. In fact, there was no real investigation of the murder conducted. Instead police and prosecutors used since-discredited jailhouse informants, and drunk or clearly mistaken eyewitnesses to convict the defendants.

Click on any document to read the words of those who participated directly or indirectly in this miscarriage of justice.

Abreo Lied

This document, which was produced by the AG's office from the Lamb County prosecutors' files and written by the Lamb County District Attorney, says that the State's lead investigator, Texas Ranger Sal Abreo, "lied to me to get me [the DA] to file the case."

APB describing Ms. Cruz' killers

The victim's description of her killers, which was memoralized in the APB from law enforcement hours after the murder and in Officer Craig Thompson's police report, quoted what Ms. Cruz told the dispatcher about her killers before she died.

Findings of Fact

Agreed Findings -- Ten years after the two defendants were convicted of murder, the State of Texas and the Lubbock Country District Attorney's Office agreed that Alberto Sifuentes did not receive a fair trial. The appeals team from Haynes and Boone, LLP said it will now ask the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to grant both men new trials.

Alibi witnesses

Pauline Robles -- Remembers Alberto and Jesus were still at the bar near Lubbock at the time of the murder.

Mary D. Wood -- Tells how police and prosecutors ignored information that exonerated the two defendants and exaggerated her recollections of stopping at the convenience store where the murder occurred.

Testimony implicating other suspects

Oscar Balderas -- Recalls talking with two brothers who were bragging about killing Evangelina Cruz during a robbery.

Mary Ann Casas Enriquez -- Says the two brothers arrived at her apartment the night of the murder, drunk and high, demanding money for gas. It appeared one was armed. Known also as Mariana, she had dated one of the brothers in the past. A Mariana charm was later found at the murder scene.

Lora Casas -- Backs up Mary Ann's version of the story.

Testimony showing two prison informants lied at trial

Adam Casas -- Admits he made up a conversation used by police to build a case implicating Alberto Sifuentes.

Sophia Medrano -- Recalls how her brother, the jailhouse source, confessed he lied about information that implicated Jesus Ramirez.

Admission by states lead investigator that supposed eye witness was not at crime scene at time of the murder

Greg Parrott -- Special investigator for the Texas Attorney General's office admits that the state's key eyewitness was mistaken about being at the Jolly Roger at about 2 a.m. the night of the murder.