Savoring the Sweet Taste of Freedom

On his first day back to freedom--out of handcuffs and yellow jumpsuits--Richard Eddie Perez spent time catching up with friends and family and gobbling down food he had been craving: his mother’s chicken tamales and a double-double cheeseburger with a root beer float at In-N-Out.

“It was so good,” said Perez, 19, surrounded by his family in the kitchen of his mother’s Santa Ana home. “I actually had salt in my food.”

Perez was convicted of armed robbery in January and was facing up to 10 years in prison.

But Judge Richard F. Toohey overturned his conviction Friday and granted Perez a new trial after his attorneys presented new evidence linking the crime to a man resembling Perez who awaits trial for a string of other robberies in Santa Ana last year.

Prosecutors have not decided whether they will retry Perez for the robbery or file charges against someone else.

After being behind bars for 1 1/2 years, Perez walked out of the County Jail late Friday and into the embrace of his mother, who said she has never doubted his innocence.

He was whisked away from the jail in a white limousine to his home where friends and relatives showered him with hugs, kisses and champagne.

Cousin Julissa Lara, 23, of Santa Ana, with whom Perez went on a shopping spree Saturday, said she was overjoyed. “I’m so glad he’s got a second chance. It’s a great feeling.”

Perez’s first night of freedom was almost a sleepless one. When he finally went to his room, he said, “I couldn’t believe I was in my house, sleeping in my own bed. This is one chapter of my life I will never forget.”

Perez said he was not embittered by his incarceration. “It was a bad experience, but it also helped me.

“I have dreams and goals now, and I’m more serious about my life,” he said, explaining that he got his high school diploma while in jail. He said he plans to enroll in a technical school and find a job.

At the time of his arrest, Perez was a sales assistant at a technology company and was also working part-time at his uncle’s flower shop. In March of last year, Perez was arrested while walking to a fast-food restaurant to visit a friend.

A woman spotted him and reported to police that Perez was the man who had robbed her at knifepoint in an apartment carport, taking some distinctive Mexican jewelry from her.

Even before his trial this year, his mother, Martha Perez, read newspaper articles and had seen a picture of Eduardo Guzman, a man arrested in the assaults of women in her neighborhood. She noticed that Guzman resembled her son, having the same light complexion, trimmed mustache and bushy eyebrows.

Her plea to the judge to consider the likelihood of misidentification failed. The judge wanted evidence.

“We were praying every day,” said Martha Perez. “I knew my son was telling me the truth--that he was innocent.”

Her son was convicted after a jury deliberated for one day. On the advice of friends, she hired attorney Edward Munoz, who said he learned from police that Guzman had allegedly given some items to friends. His investigator, Larry Magdaleno, found Guzman’s former girlfriend, who had a silver Aztec calendar medallion identical to the one stolen in the Perez case. The ex-girlfriend said Guzman gave it to her sister, who gave it to her.

The new evidence was enough to win Perez his release.

“I was giving up hope,” said a relieved Perez. “I was getting to the point where I just wanted to serve the time and get out of there.”

During his Saturday shopping spree, Perez bought an olive-colored suit, three designer dress shirts and an equal number of neckties so he would be presentable when he went to church today with his mother.

“I just want to give thanks for being out of jail and pray for the strength to keep me focused and get on with my life in a positive way,” he said.