| "I am waiting for a miracle one way or the other", said Maria Rolon, cousin of them both and who since 2008 has dedicated herself to investigate the case and try to find a way to save her loved ones.
"I love this country a lot, I served in the Armed Forces" said Rolon. "That is why this has been very difficult for me, to watch what this country has done to my two cousins as well as my entire family", she said.
The odyssey of Maldonado and Calderon has been long and it is still not over. The events are as follows:
August 4, 1996
Julio Maldonado was visiting his cousin Denis Calderon and they both decided to go to a nearby bar in the neighborhood of Oxford Circle.
After leaving Calderon's house, they encountered a group of white youth that yelled at them racial slurs and started to attack them, according to trial records.
According to the testimony of, Robert Boomer, who was at the scene on that night, he heard someone from the crowd of young men say," If I see that n----r , I'm going to f--- him up" at the same time that Maldonado and Calderon were passing by.
Calderon tried talking to them, when suddenly they started throwing their bottles and physically attacking them.
While Calderon was being attacked on the ground by these various youths, Maldonado went towards his car and took out a club, a device used to secure the steering wheel of a car.
Calderon swung towards Christian Saladino (one of the white youths) when he saw he was stabbing Maldonado. [Ed. note: this prior paragraph has the two cousins' identities switched in error: it was Maldonado who swung when he saw Saladino stabbing Calderon.]
His swing brushed him on the shoulder and afterwards Saladino collapsed. Hours later he was at the hospital in a coma by which he never recovered.
Rolon explains that after a private investigation, led by the family they discovered that a close friend of Saladino and his group of friends was killed by an African American one year earlier and that the friends were looking for vengeance against the "other". The police recovered two knives but they were never examined for blood or finger prints.
July 21, 1997
Maldonado and Calderon were convicted for aggravated assault and other minor charges in a trial without a jury and given a prison sentence by Judge Gregory Smith.
August 27, 1997
Maldonado and Calderon appealed their sentence arguing that there was expert medical testimony that was never presented in the original trial.
This included additional medical evidence that showed Saladino suffered a pre-existing medical condition which may have led to his coma.
Besides there is no conclusive medical evidence that Saladino's coma was caused by "external stimuli".
September 12, 1998
Christian Saladino dies at home after one year in a coma.
March 24, 1999
The Philadelphia District Attorney brings murder charges to Maldonado and Calderon under the leadership of then, Assistant District Attorney, Seth Williams.
March 24, 2000
Homicide trial begins.
April 3, 2000
Maldonado and Calderon are found innocent on the murder charges.
May 1, 2000
The Judge conducts an evidentiary hearing for the new medical evidence and decides to vacate his original sentence of when he found Maldonado and Calderon guilty of aggravated assault. He opined that this new medical evidence could have changed the outcome of his original verdict.
Maldonado and Calderon are released from prison after serving three years.
May, 2000
Williams presents and wins the appeal against Smith's decision. He states a technical argument that invalidates the new medical testimony arguing that it's redundant because the district attorney had already presented medical testimony at the original trial, which basically said the same thing.
Calderon and Maldonado again are guilty of aggravated assault under the law.
2000- 2003
Maldonado and Calderon appeal all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and to the United States Supreme Court. They lost all their appeals.
During this time they have completed their prison sentence but under parole.
January 2004
Calderon is arrested by the control of Immigration and Custom Agency (ICE) to enter deportation proceedings. Since 1996 any person that is not a citizen of the U.S. could be automatically deported for certain crimes.
March 2004
Maldonado is also arrested by ICE.
January 2006
They are both charged with civil penalties for not cooperating with their deportation. Neither signed their traveling documents requesting to enter Peru.
September 2006
Maldonado pleads guilty of the charge and receives a four year prison sentence.
July 2009
Maldonado's family presents a Pardon petition to Governor Ed Rendell on his behalf. |
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