By Christina Mohan
I. INTRODUCTION
This paper will take an extensive dive into the history of discrimination and criminalization against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (“LGBTQ+”) community. This paper will discuss several critical ideologies, all of which contribute to the wrongful convictions of countless individuals in this community. This includes key concepts such as the national hysteria of satanic rituals of abuse against children, the perception of homophobia in the criminal justice system, and the impact of intersectionality, focusing on the combination of race with LGBTQ+ identity.
The case of the “San Antonio Four” highlights each of these concepts and its powerful effect on wrongful convictions. In 1998, Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh, and Anna Vasquez were wrongfully convicted in the Bexar County Criminal District Court located in San Antonio, Texas, for sexually aggravated assault and indecency with a child. All four Latina women were tried and convicted for child sexual abuse against Ramirez’s two nieces, V.L. and S.L. who were nine and seven years old at the time of the allegations. Ramirez was sentenced to thirty-seven and a half years, while Rivera, Mayhugh, and Vasquez were sentenced to fifteen years. This article will address the grave and unjust errors in the case which included: (1) false or misleading forensic evidence; and (2) perjury or false accusations. Additionally, this article will highlight prescriptive measures designed to help prevent similar miscarriages of justice such as the establishment of the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel, the Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit, and the Junk Science Writ. Lastly, this article will dive into the legal issues that presented obstacles in this case for the four women to obtain monetary damages, prior to their exoneration in 2016.
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