FREE

From SiMPLE CHURCH by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger...

One of the happiest days in the life of Jose Diaz was Sunday morning, August 7, 2005. It occurred at Christ Fellowship in Miami, Florida. For the first time Jose was able to worship sitting next to his father, Luis Diaz. Luis had been a believer for many years, but had never attended church with his son, Jose.

He couldn't. He was in prison, for twenty-six years.

On Sunday, August 7, 2005, they worshipped together. Luis Diaz was released four days earlier because DNA testing had proven his innocence. He had been wrongfully convicted. Because of the evidence, he was no longer considered the Bird Road rapist. You probably saw the story on the news. It made the national headlines.

The Bird Road rapist was on the prowl from 1977 to 1979. Many victims described him as an English-speaking Latin male, over six feel tall, and weighing approximately two hundred pounds. He sometimes took things from the victims.

After her attack, the first victim saw Luis Diaz at the gas station where she worked.

Four days earlier she provided police with a description: Latin male, six feet tall, about two hundred pounds, English-speaking, with a two-door green or black car. Luis Diaz drove into the gas station in his green four-door Chevrolet. The victim called the police with his license number, and she later identified him as her attacker from his driver license picture. Diaz weighed 134 pounds and was five feet three inches tall. He was married with three children. He spoke no English. at this time no charges were filed.

The attacks continued, and the public grew more and more concerned. The police focused on Diaz. Another victim made an identification of him from a photographic array. He was arrested in August 1979. Two days later fourteen victims viewed a live lineup. Five victims identified Diaz positively. Later several more victims identified Diaz from a video lineup. Prosecutors brought eight charges against him.

Luis Diaz insisted he was innocent and went to trial in May 1980. There was no physical evidence connecting Diaz to the crime. A search of Diaz's home produced no items taken from victims. No weapon was ever found. No semen or blood was found in Diaz's car, though four of the victims had been raped in the attacker's car. Most of the victims had described the attacker as taller and heavier.

Diaz, because of his job as a fry cook, reeked of onions after his night shift. None of the victims described an odor. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Diaz was found guilty and sentenced to multiple life sentences.

In 1993, two victims came forward and recanted their identifications of Diaz. Jose, his son, began researching DNA testing and how it was used to overturn wrongful convictions. He knew his father was innocent. He wrote letters and partnered with groups such as the Innocence Project to produce a motion for DNA testing. DNA tests from two of the victims proved the same person raped them. It was not Diaz.

All charges were dropped, and Diaz was freed after twenty-six years.

Like Jose Diaz, we are called to free prisoners. Not from physical jail cells but from spiritual ones. We are called to offer freedom to those who are imprisoned by sin.

In Luke 4:18 Jesus said...He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners... (NIV)