Daniel Saldana, who spent 33 years of a life sentence in prison for a 1989 Baldwin Park shooting, was proclaimed innocent today by Los Angeles County D.A. George Gascón, who said Saldana was wrongfully convicted of attempted murder.
Saldana, now 55 years old, was convicted in 1990 for an Oct. 27, 1989 shooting that targeted six high school students who were driving after a football game. According to prosecutors, the suspects mistook the group for gang members and opened fire, injuring two of them.
Just 22 and working construction at the time, Saldana was charged, along with two other people, with six counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle. He was convicted and sentenced to 45 years to life in prison.
According to Gascón, another defendant in the case disclosed during a 2017 parole hearing that Saldana was not involved in the shooting, and was not even present at the time. That information was finally relayed to the District Attorney's Office in February of this year, prompting an investigation that ultimately determined Saldana to be innocent.
"I just knew that one day this was going to come," Saldana said at a
news conference Thursday with Gascón. "I'm so grateful. I just thank God."