NEW YORK -- A federal appeals court in New York has given new life to a man's claims that he was unjustly convicted in the 1987 murder of a pediatric nurse in Syracuse.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Monday ordered a lower court to quickly consider the claims of Hector Rivas.
Rivas has been in prison for 20 years after he was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend, Valerie Hill.
Rivas has challenged his conviction on the grounds that new evidence has emerged. The appeals court says Rivas has shown that Hill was almost certainly killed at a time when he had an uncontested alibi.
The appeals court did not consider whether Rivas is innocent, but only whether he should get a chance to challenge the conviction.
Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick issued a lengthy statement. He said, in part: "I have the utmost respect for the 2nd Circuit, but this decision needs to be appealed. 25 years ago Hector Rivas viciously anally raped and strangled a wonderful young woman who had everything to live for and who never hurt a fly. Unable to stand the fact that he had been rejected, Rivas, a serial abuser of women, set out on a one month campaign of stalking her until finally learning that she planned to vacation without him, he ended her life."
DA Fitzpatrick concludes by saying that, "Now 20 years after 12 people listened to all the proof, and litigation on appeal that has affirmed this conviction multiple times, a pathologist who was readily available 20 years ago says Dr. Mitchell may have got it wrong and for that reason this animal deserves a hearing on a bid for a new trial. I will fight that effort with all the resources my office can muster."
