SUMMARY

On December 14, 2023, David Ayala was exonerated of murder in Chicago, Illinois, a crime that he did not commit. His exoneration and that of his co-defendant, James Soto, was the result of a long legal battle by Bonjean Law Group on behalf of Mr. Ayala, and lawyers from the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School on behalf of Mr. Soto. The two men had spent 42 years and two months in custody. They were the longest wrongfully incarcerated people in Illinois history.

The case arose from a 1981 shooting in Piotrowski Park that left two teenagers dead and one injured. Despite early police reports pointing to other suspects, including J.J. Rojas and Victor “Fat Victor” Rodriguez, Ayala and Soto were prosecuted based largely on the testimony of Wally “Gator” Cruz, who cut a deal with prosecutors to testify in exchange for leniency. Cruz admitted at trial that he had given conflicting statements to police and later witnesses revealed that he had privately confessed to lying about Ayala and Soto’s involvement. Other witnesses described threats and coercion by police, as well as evidence implicating Rojas and Rodriguez, but that evidence was ignored at trial.

Ayala and Soto were convicted in 1982 and sentenced to life without parole. Over the next four decades, they fought their wrongful convictions through post-conviction petitions and appeals. Numerous witnesses came forward with affidavits naming Rojas and Rodriguez as the true gunmen, and describing threats, physical abuse, and coercion by police during the original investigation. Both trial lawyers also faced serious conflicts of interest, with evidence showing defense counsel worked in concert and failed to present testimony that would have cleared the men.

In 2022, the Illinois Appellate Court reinstated Ayala and Soto’s petitions, ruling they were entitled to a full evidentiary hearing based on new evidence of innocence and conflicts of interest. On December 14, 2023, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office vacated their convictions and dismissed the charges, fully exonerating both men after more than four decades of wrongful imprisonment.