Woman is paroled despite big sentence 

Sonia Cacy, whose conviction of a heinous murder was based in part on testimony of experts from the Bexar County medical examiners office, was paroled Monday after serving only six years of a 99- year-term. 

"It's just overwhelming. My thoughts won't work. I can't talk," said Cacy shortly after being released from a state prison in Gatesville. 

But, she said, freedom is just the first step. 

"I want my name cleared. I want to be found innocent," she said 

Caught by surprise at the Monday release was Albert Valadez, the Pecos County district attorney who tried Cacy for murder. 

"It's ridiculous that she got out real fast. This is an about-face for the parole board. They usually keep people in longer on a 99-year sentence," Valadez said. 

Cacy became eligible for parole so quickly by getting credit for time served, good behavior and working a prison job, according to her lawyer Eric Rabbanian. 

Her 1993 conviction and the disputed forensic evidence it turned on have received national media attention in stories examining the reliability and power of expert witnesses. 

Cacy, 51, was convicted in Fort Stockton of killing her aging uncle, Bill Richardson, by pouring gasoline over him and then igniting him. 

Crucial to the prosecution's case was a finding by the Bexar County lab of traces of gasoline on Richardson's charred clothing. 

A second contemporary analysis, however, detected no gasoline. 

And since the trial, various outside experts have reviewed the same Bexar lab analysis and have not found gasoline. 

The defense claimed Richardson, a heavy smoker, probably died of a heart attack, and the fire likely was caused by a cigarette. 

Cacy and her lawyers say they soon will file a writ with the trial court in Pecos County asking to have the conviction set aside. 

They will argue that the Bexar County experts were wrong and that Cacy had a listless defense lawyer who did not call any credible expert witnesses to rebut the prosecution's case. 

"This case has gotten national attention because crime labs do crank out these expert results, and they often go unchallenged," said Gerry Morris, an Austin lawyer who is preparing the writ. 

"The thing I can't understand — that is flat beyond me — is why the lab doesn't say, 'We made a mistake,' especially when so much is at stake," Morris said. 

But neither the prosecutor nor the Bexar crime lab was ready to admit error. 

"I have not seen any information to lead me to believe we convicted an innocent woman," Valadez said from his office in Fort Stockton. 

Dr. Vincent DiMaio, the Bexar County medical examiner, said Monday he stands behind his technicians. 

"The cases have been reviewed internally, and everyone still says the gasoline is there. As to the person dying of a heart attack, that's absurd," DiMaio said. 

But, he acknowledged, no outside experts have been asked to review the case. 

DiMaio likened the controversy to that of another high-profile case involving disputed forensic evidence. 

"If you think about the O.J. Simpson case, you can always get experts to say something different. So that's it. . . . This is what defense lawyers get paid for," he said. 

However, Rabbanian, who represented Cacy before the parole board, said no one involved in the case is being paid anything. 

"Many of them (the expert witnesses) have offered to pay their own expenses should the need arise (for them to testify,)" he said. 

Rabbanian said Cacy will remain under supervision by the state for the rest of her life unless her conviction is overturned. 

"Under the eyes of the law, she's a murderer," he said. 

Cacy said she does not intend to rest now. 

"I don't deserve to be on parole for the rest of my life. I want it for myself and for everyone. I don't want them to do anyone else the way they've done me," she said. 

"If prosecutors and forensic experts can do this to people, they can convict anyone, especially if you don't have any money. It's frightening," she said. 

Monday, November 23, 1998