Working to right an injustice

On Dec. 8, 1985, an intentionally-set fire destroyed a small retail shop in the garment district in downtown Los Angeles. One person was killed, and Rosie Sanchez, a single mother of four, was charged and convicted of first-degree murder.

Twenty-four years later, Jenny Shanley Farrell, a 1999 La Cañada High School graduate and second year student at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, is trying to secure parole for Sanchez, who she believes was falsely convicted.

Working with the Post-Conviction Justice Project, a clinical program at USC Law that gives students hands-on experience, Shanley Farrell travels regularly to the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Corona to meet with Sanchez and prepare her for the grueling parole process.

Shanley Farrell has already scored a major victory. In mid-October, the California parole board found Sanchez suitable for parole. The recommendation will go before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February.

The case against Sanchez was riddled with holes from the start, Shanley Farrell said. At the time of the incident, Sanchez, a legal Mexican immigrant who spoke no English, was operating her own small shop two storefronts down from the scene of the fire. The prosecution argued that the crime was financially motivated, Shanley Farrell said, and that Sanchez’s business was suffering from unwanted competition brought on by her neighbor. Tax records show, however, that her shop was prospering.

In addition, the defendant had multiple witnesses to corroborate her alibi — she was with her children at a friend’s house at the time the crime took place. Sanchez’s public defender called only one witness, Sanchez’ sister, to the stand to testify. It is normal, Shanley Farrell said, for jurors to disregard a witness who is related to the defendant because jurors assume such a witness would be willing to lie.

Lastly, the prosecution’s key witness, who was in the building when the fire ignited but was able to escape, kept changing his version of the story, Shanley Farrell said.