Dissection of a Texas Wrongful Conviction
If you were to google May 15th, 1994, you would learn that it was a Sunday, that “The Sign” by Ace of Base was the #1 song in the United States, and you might learn of a few vaguely notable birthdays. What you would not know, however, was that a series of events beginning on May 15th, 1994, altered the course of 19-year-old Richard Miles’ entire life.
After spending the day with a close friend, Miles was dropped off only about a mile away from his residence with the casual intention of walking the short distance home — at this point, in the earliest hours of May 16th. Unbeknownst to Miles, a shooting had taken place at a nearby Texaco gas station, leaving one man dead and another one with significant injuries. Only a few minutes into his journey, Miles was stopped by police and arrested. In his own testimony of events, Miles explains that he did not feel particularly unsettled at this point, armed with the knowledge and certainty that he had not committed any crime.
As described by witnesses of the Texaco shooting, the suspect police were looking for was a tall, dark-skinned man in a white tank top and dark shorts wearing a floppy hat. As far as matching the physical description, Miles did not meet many of the qualifications. Miles is around 5 feet 6 inches in height, is a light-skinned man, and was wearing dark pants and a white tank top upon his arrest.
