Former inmate on track to seek $200K from state

Gilbert Amezquita, a man who spent eight years in prison on what might have been a false rape arrest, has begun the process of getting $200,000 in state compensation for his jail time. Amezquita was arrested in connection with the 1998 rape and beating of Kathy Bingham at her father's publishing company, which left Bingham in a coma for 10 days. When she woke up, she told police that "Gilbert" had attacked her; based primarily on that testimony, Amezquita was sentenced to 15 years in prison. But in December, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, citing ineffective assistance of counsel and evidence that Amezquita's attorney didn't present at the trial, ordered that he be set free or given another trial — and Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal said there won't be a retrial. "My staff looked at that [Amezquita] case very hard and all the evidence pointed to someone else," Rosenthal said.

Roland Moore, Amezquita's appellate attorney, said investigators should have named Alonzo Gilbert Guerrero, another employee of the publishing company, as a suspect in the attack. Guerrero, who also goes by the name Gilbert, was on parole for burglary when Bingham was raped and has admitted he was doing crack at the time, according to the Chronicle. Assistant DA Jimmy Ortiz said an interview with Guerrero helped persuade the DA's office not to retry Amezquita, but Guerrero hasn't admitted to the crime.

Under state law, people who are wrongfully convicted can collect $25,000 from the state for each year they spent in prison. A letter from Rosenthal expressing "actual innocence" would be necessary for Amezquita to make the claim, and Rosenthal said he's willing to write the letter. "I'm glad it's finally over," Amezquita said. "I'm just so glad to be free."

As for Bingham, she said the police had the right man all along: She's sure Amezquita, who she called "a manipulative little punk," is the man who beat and raped her. "I know Gilbert Amezquita. It was not the other Gilbert," she said. "I know him like I know my brother. I would not have a problem identifying him."