A San Jose man was released from jail last week after state judges lambasted Santa Clara County prosecutors for using rap lyrics in an attempt to put him behind bars for more than a century.
A December state appellate ruling found prosecutors in District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office prejudiced a jury during a retrial and muddied the bounds of permissible evidence by mentioning the defendant, Hugo Chavez, produced a rap song to convince jurors in closing arguments he was a gang member. The Sixth District Court of Appeal ruling also questioned the prosecution’s use of a witness who lacked credibility and testified to lying to police on various occasions.
“This case presents the rare circumstances under which reversal is warranted: The evidence against Chavez was not strong; the contents of the lyrics were extremely inflammatory; and the prosecution’s frequent references to them compel the conclusion that it is reasonably probable the outcome of the trial would have been more favorable to Chavez in the absence of the error,” the ruling reads…