Emanuel "June" Rios and Angel "Spanky" Rodriguez are serving life sentences for a conviction obtained through fabrication, prosecutorial misconduct and defense attorney failures. Incarcerated since 1989, these men need support to prove their innocence and obtain their freedom.  

Emanuel and Angel were wrongfully convicted of the 1987 murder of Shawn Nelson. This case presents an example of a wrongful conviction obtained by an assistant district attorney's willful disregard of evidence and knowingly using perjured testimony. The assistant district attorney from the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, Roger King, prosecuted this murder based solely on the self-serving testimony of one witness, Romance McArthur. McArthur was facing a life sentence for an unrelated murder and conveniently leveraged two know drug dealers (Rios and Rodriguez) by falsely accusing them of Nelson's two year-old unsolved murder, of which McArthur was the prime suspect. Coupled with inadequate legal representation, this wrongful conviction was a certainty.  

The most significant fact of this case is that Romance McArthur confessed to the murder of Shawn Nelson shortly after the crime occurred in 1987. He gave a taped audio confession to Rios's attorney, A. Charles Peruto. Two years later at trial, Peruto took the stand and said he lost the cassette tape with the confession. It didn't turn up for five years and nothing came of it being found.  

Rios and Rodriguez have languished in prison for nearly 33 years. We're asking for your support to help free these innocent men.  

Ways You Can Help

• Sign and share our petition.
• Donate to help June and Spanky pay for professional resources to fight their case. 
• Listen to In/justice podcast to learn more about this case and follow the calls to action at the end of each episode. 
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Contact Us

Please email us, at info@injusticepod.com, if you have questions or comments about this case.  We greatly appreciate your support!!