On June 1, 1991, a woman who was three months pregnant, was lying on a mattress in her living room with her six-month-old child in Austin, Texas. Her husband was at work. The front door of the house was open, but a screen door was closed and latched. A man came to the door and offered the woman $100 to let him in the house.
The woman refused and threatened to call the police. When the man reached through a hole in the screen and began to unlatch the screen door, the woman tried to close the front door, but the man opened the screen door and forced his way inside.
The man pulled the telephone cord from the wall and began to take off the woman’s clothing. She screamed and the man put his hand over her mouth, telling her to shut up or he would kill her.
He raped the woman and left. The woman was able to view him for a few minutes in her well-lit living room.
The woman was taken to the hospital, where a rape kit was collected. Later, she viewed police albums of mugshots. She selected the photograph of 26-year-old Ben Salazar, who had a prior conviction for indecent exposure. The woman also said that Salazar had a tattoo on his arm that resembled the tattoo of her attacker.
Salazar agreed to have his picture taken to be placed in a photographic lineup. In the photograph, Salazar was wearing a shirt that was the same color as that worn by the woman’s attacker. She again selected him as the rapist.
On October 17, 1991, Salazar was arrested. He was charged with aggravated sexual assault and burglary.
In April 1992, Salazar went to trial in Travis County District Court. The victim identified him as her attacker.
A forensic analyst testified that seminal fluid was detected on items in the rape kit and had been submitted for serological testing. The victim’s husband was eliminated as a contributor of the semen, but Salazar could not be excluded, the analyst said. The analyst said only 2 percent of the general population and only 1 percent of the Hispanic population were included.
Salazar’s wife testified that he was at home at the time of the crime.
In April 1992, the jury convicted Salazar of aggravated sexual assault and burglary. On May 26, 1992, Salazar was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
In October 1993, the Third District Texas Court of Appeals upheld his conviction and sentence.
In December 1994, Salazar’s attorneys, David Schulman and Karyl Krug, secured a court order to preserve the evidence. However, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) was unable to locate the evidence at that time.
The evidence was eventually found in October 1996 in a freezer. In February 1997, a judge granted a defense request for DNA testing, and the evidence was sent to GeneScreen, a private laboratory in Dallas, Texas.
In September 1997, GeneScreen reported that Salazar was excluded as the donor of the spermatozoa. In October 1997, the Travis County District Attorney's Office sent the evidence to DPS for another round of testing.
On October 27, 1997, after this round of testing confirmed that Salazar was excluded, he was released on bond.
A third round of testing was performed, this time with a new reference sample from Salazar to prevent any claims of evidence tampering while the evidence was missing.
After the third round of exculpatory testing was concluded, and Salazar was once more excluded, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended that Salazar be granted a pardon.
On November 20, 1997, Governor George W. Bush pardoned Salazar. Subsequently, Salazar was awarded $25,000 in state compensation plus a monthly annuity of $2,200.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 07-27-2026
