Carolinas

Carolina Herrera González






































"Presumed Guilty"

Without knowing their rights, without evidence, without being able to bepresumed innocent, Antonio Zuniga was arrested and sentenced for a crime he did not commit. The life of José Antonio Rodríguez Zúñiga changed radically from one moment to another. In court, he onlyheard his sentence of 20 years in prison for murder.
Due to the inadequacy of the prison system in Mexico and corrupt authority, Antonio would be in jail for a crime he did not commit. But thecoincidence of several factors changed its course.
Antonio Rodríguez Zúñiga was an ordinary person. One day he was working on his computer repair business and video games sales, when about a block fromPolvorilla market in Mexico City three persons arrested him. He entered to prison on 14 December 2005 with charges of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Roberto Hernandez and Layda Negrete,lawyers, researchers from CIDE, and who were about to leave on his Ph.D. at Berkeley in the United States for 5 years, had several years collecting statistics on the Mexican justice system. Discovering amongmany other things that the police in Mexico is rewarded for those accused and arrested. Family and friend from Antonio sought for help in these young lawyers who listened to the process that haddeveloped in the case, for them, nothing new in the penal system.
The lawyers, without feeling defeated, yet without giving false hope, suggested to Antonio’s friends that it was best to spread the casein the media, because they could not commit. The only way to help would be on the phone with Antonio. Plans changed on January 12, 2007, when Antonio had spent 395 days in prison Layda and Robertobtained permission to film Antonio in prison. Five months and 17 days later they were able to study the case file. When reopen the case in research, lawyers realized that counsel was litigating with a...