ENCINITAS : Man Who Did Time Won’t Face Trial

The district attorney’s office Thursday withdrew its case against a La Costa man who served 18 months in prison for an assault conviction but was later freed when an 11-year-old witness recanted his testimony.

Prosecutors said they still believe that 30-year-old Kelvin Wiley beat Toni DiGiovanni and strangled her with a belt in her Encinitas townhouse in September, 1990.

However, without the testimony of DiGiovanni’s sixth-grade son, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Silver said there is “no longer sufficient evidence for a jury to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Silver said he does not know why the boy changed his testimony.

The boy, who placed Wiley’s truck at the assault scene, said he lied at the 1990 trial “to protect my mom. The truth is, I didn’t see Kelvin’s truck.”