Wanda Vázquez discusses the case of Ashley Torres Feliciano with the Innocence Project

The Governor Wanda Vazquez Garced and lawyer Julio Fontanet, founder of the Puerto Rico Innocence Project, Today they discussed the details of the petition for clemency from Ashley Marie Torres Feliciano, the young mother, a victim of domestic violence, who was sentenced to 111 years after being convicted as a co-author of a murder for which the perpetrator of the events has less than 11 years. served. in jail.

Fontanet indicated that the meeting lasted just over an hour and that they reviewed the details of the file prepared by the Parole Board on the clerical request. The attorney did not say what exactly they were discussing as much of the content is confidential.

“It was a very good conversation. The governor was open to these and other valuable matters. I have the impression that she is aware of the power (of leniency) and that she will handle it with care and that any decision she makes will be well-founded, ”Fontanet told El Nuevo Día.

“We are optimistic. It is an exceptionally meritorious case that generates consensus, ”said the lawyer.

The governor was the one who called Fontanet to La Fortaleza and announced the meeting with posts on his social networks. ‘Meeting with Lcdo. Julio Fontanet from the Innocence Project on various issues. Truth and justice have always been my north, ”the outgoing president posted on the social network Twitter.

Fontanet, for his part, stated that he trusts Vázquez Garced, with his background as a prosecutor and head of the Office of the Women’s Ombudsman can understand the inequality of punishment and assess the context of the case of an adolescent mother, who has been sexually abused since the age of 14 and subjected to a pattern of gender violence.

“Ahsley was sexually assaulted and abused and her behavior should be interpreted in that context and taking into account her age of 16 at the time,” said Fontanet. The prisoner is currently 28 years old and is in the Bayamón Correctional Complex.

The leniency application is the most recent attempt by Torres Feliciano, who has denied co-author of the events, to get out of prison.

The case dates from February 21, 2009. That Saturday, the Torres Feliciano family celebrated a birthday in the Alturas de Peñuelas II community center.

She went to the event with Steven Quirindongo, who was her partner and is the father of her son, who was two years old at the time of the events. She was 16 years old.

During the celebration, she argues with Quirindongo, who knocks her outside the property several times. That was part of a pattern of violence that has been manifesting for years. When her brothers learn what happened, they confront the aggressor and the fight ensues. Ashley’s brother, Nelson Torres Feliciano, died of his injuries the next day.

Six family members stated that, in the middle of the fight, Ashley handed Quirindongo a knife – about six inches long – to stab her brother. Relatives who accused her also said she hit her brother with a club in the middle of the fight. Neither claimed she was the one who stabbed their brother.

After the incident, Quirindongo fled to the United States and was found in Arizona with false ID, it was reported.

When the Innocence Project took over Ashley’s representation, they found that the Justice Department was suppressing exculpatory evidence and asked for a retrial. This request reached the Supreme Court, which in a split decision understood that the evidence in the controversy was cumulative, so it was not enough to allow a retrial.

The decision was announced by the then Justice Minister and the current governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced. A jury found Torres Feliciano unanimously guilty of co-authoring the murder of his brother. The evidence presented as new was submitted to the defense for consideration. It’s not exculpatory, ”Vázquez Garced said in a 2018 written statement.

Fontanet said it also advocated another leniency application that it would rather not make public.