Today, 214th District Court Judge Inna Klein signed an order dismissing the 2002 capital murder case against Joe David Padron. The Order grants the motion of the State to dismiss “in the interest of justice.”
The decision, met with applause by family and friends of Padron, to dismiss the case comes after both the District Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals determined that the State used the perjured testimony of two key witnesses in Padron’s trial, causing his wrongful conviction. In his evidentiary hearing held in 2023, attorneys for Padron also presented evidence of the identity of the actual perpetrators of the murders, one of whom had confessed and named his co-actors.
Attorneys for Padron noted disappointment that the case was not dismissed on actual innocence, a dismissal that would have allowed Padron to be compensated for the more than two decades he spent behind bars. They said they will instead seek a civil lawsuit for these compensatory damages…