Last month, the Supreme Court granted habeas corpus relief to Vicente Benavides Figueroa, a death row inmate, vacating his death sentence and conviction because false evidence — that the 21-month-old victim had been sexually assaulted — was introduced at the trial and because a number of medical witnesses later recanted their trial testimony.
The Bakersfield Californian reports the Kern County District Attorney today announced that Benavides will not be retried and will soon be released from custody. The DA is quoted as saying, “The change in opinion of the majority of medical personnel involved in the case would greatly undermine their testimony in any retrial regarding the physical abuse the victim suffered.”