- Santiago Ventura Morales
Infobox Person
name= Santiago Ventura Morales
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birth_date=
birth_place=Mexico
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occupation= migrant farm worker
social worker
spouse=Santiago Ventura Morales is a social worker in the state of
Oregon . Born in Mexico, he was falsely convicted ofmurder in Oregon in 1986.cite web
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title = Profiles
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publisher = Willamette University College of Law
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url = http://www.willamette.edu/wucl/profiles/alumni/demuniz_paul.htm
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accessdate = 2006-12-03 ] The conviction drew national attention when some jurors worked to overturn the conviction, and he was released from prison in 1991. He later graduated from theUniversity of Portland .Early life
Santiago Ventura Morales was born in 1968 and grew up in San Miguel Cuevas in the Mexican state of
Oaxaca where he completed school through the sixth grade. At the age of 14 in 1982, Morales left his hometown in Mexico along with five cousins.Pulaski, Alex. Laboring in the filed of human rights – Santiago Ventura Morales rises from a nightmarish encounter with the justice system to be an advocate for his fellow indigenous Mexicans working in Oregon. "The Oregonian ",November 17 2002 .] An indigenous Mexican of Mixtec heritage, he moved to the United States to work as a migrant farm worker.Murder conviction
In 1986, Morales was accused of murdering a 19 year-old migrant farm worker in an Oregon strawberry field after a fight. Ramiro Lopez Fidel was found dead on
July 14 1986 , from a stabbing inSandy, Oregon . Morales was arrested and out on trial in September. He was convicted onOctober 2 1986 , and sentenced to ten-years to life in prison after a trial in which he was provided a Spanish interpreter, despite the fact that as a Mixteco, Spanish was not his native language. He maintained his innocence and several jurors later had second thoughts about the conviction and began advocating that he be released from prison. Morales repeatedly appealed after the conviction, but these appeals were denied, with futureOregon Supreme Court justiceVirginia Linder opposing the appeals for the state of Oregon. [93 Or.App. 202, 761 P.2d 555 (1988).] [307 Or. 303, 767 P.2d 443 (1989).] However, the lack of an appropriate interpreter and other deficiencies in his trial led to his conviction being overturned when it was shown that a different person was responsible for the murder.cite web
title = Press Release regarding Oregon and Ohio
work =
publisher = FindLaw.com
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url = http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/courtinterp-l/msg08393.html
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accessdate = 2006-12-09 ]While in prison he learned English and hoped to become a lawyer. The reinvestigation drew intense media attention locally and nationally.Ellis, Barnes C. Ventura murder case dropped. "
The Oregonian ",April 12 1991 .] Current Oregon Supreme Court Chief JusticePaul De Muniz was Morales’ primary defense attorney on the successful appeal. OnJanuary 9 1991 , Santiago Ventura Morales was released from prison, and all charges were dropped in May. Oregon governorNeil Goldschmidt had offered a conditional pardon for Morales after the conviction was overturned in case Oregon Attorney GeneralDave Frohnmayer appealed the decision that overturned the conviction. [Ellis, Barnes C. Attorney general Dave Frohnmayer say his office won't appeal the ruling after Gov. Goldschmidt offers a pardon. "The Oregonian ",January 8 1991 .] In 1995, the state of Oregon passed a law that requires testing and certification of court interpreters as a result of the Morales case. [Oregon Mandates Testing for Court Interpreters, "The Oregonian ",December 26 1995 , at B4.]Aftermath
After his release, but while waiting for the charges to be dropped, he enrolled at
Portland State University inPortland, Oregon . Morales briefly returned to Mexico before moving back to Portland, where he accepted a scholarship to theUniversity of Portland . While imprisoned he had earned his GED and taken some college level classes, which along with the injustice led to the school offering him a full-ride scholarship to the Catholic university.Koglin, Oz Hopkins. From cellblock to sheepskin. "The Oregonian ",May 6 1996 .] He graduated in May 1996 from the school with a bachelors degree in social work and a minor in political science. The legal injustice to Morales led theOregon Supreme Court to adopt changes in the way language issues are dealt with to avoid future problems. Morales would work in Oregon briefly before returning to Mexico. He later worked for the California Rural Legal Assistance inFresno, California , before returning to Oregon to work at the Oregon Law Center. [ [http://www.csusm.edu/nlrc/publications/Newsletter/NLRC_Newsletter_Fall2004_0923.pdf National Latino Research Center: Oaxacan Community Workshop Aims to Educate Agencies in North County.] California State University San Marcos, Fall 2004. Retrieved onFebruary 22 2008 .]References
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