Robbery convictions dismissed for innocent man who served nearly 19 years

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KESQ) - A man who spent nearly 19 years in state prison for an armed robbery he had nothing to do with was freed today of his conviction in state court in Santa Ana.  

When Guy Donnell Miles won the right to a retrial in 2017, he was given the chance to take a plea bargain to get out of prison. So he pleaded guilty June 20, 2017, to two counts of robbery and possession of a gun by a felon with a sentencing enhancement for using a gun in a robbery.

It was a special type of plea in which one does not admit guilt but capitulates to the charges and punishment.   

Miles said he wrestled with what to do. He had spent years fighting his conviction and even had to try three times to convince the Innocence Center to take up his cause.

"I was just done at that point,'' Miles told reporters as he recalled the day he was offered a plea deal to avoid another trial.   

"I thought about my kids, my mother and father, and decided to take the plea,'' Miles said.  

Since then, he has had to have his lawyers write letters for him to prospective employers to explain his case. Now, he said, he won't have to tell future employers of this case. He said he's also now able to vote and can't wait to cast a ballot.

"I don't know who I'm going to vote for, but I'm going to vote,'' he said.

With his mother by his side throughout Friday's news conference, he praised his family and his father -- who did not live long enough to see his son vindicated -- for not giving up on him.

"Eighteen years, 10 months and 15 days,'' Miles said. "For a crime I didn't commit.''  

He recalled how cell mates and others he talked to about his case doubted him.

"Everybody thought I was crazy,'' Miles said. "Today is a victory for me and my father. I'm just sad he's not here to appreciate this."  

Miles thanked Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer for "doing the right thing."  

He also praised his attorneys for years of advocating for him. "I love them to the moon and back,'' he said.   

But while Friday was a happy day and that he said it "feels good to be able to smile again,'' he also added, "I'm just so filled with different emotions."

He recalled how frustrated and confused he was at his trial in 1999, when a witness declared in court that the defendant wasn't the robber, but changed her mind after a prosecutor showed her Miles' booking mug in a hallway of the courthouse during a break.

Miles also had an alibi, as he was living in Las Vegas at the time, and came to Carson to pick up his son to spend the summer with him.   

Later, three men were convicted of the robbery and said that Miles had nothing to do with it.   

None of that mattered as the witness identifications prevailed on appeal and through two evidentiary hearings, including one presided over by the original trial judge, Frank Fasel, who came out of retirement to handle the hearing.  

"I was mad at the world for the first couple of years,'' Miles said. "But I knew that wouldn't get me anywhere."  

Being that he was sentenced to 75 years to life behind bars, "I was told I would never get out of prison.''   

But he kept writing to attorneys to get help, and the Innocence Center took up his cause.  

Michael Semanchik, the center's executive director, said 14 law school students contributed to the cause over the years, including one who helped Miles get "north of $900,000'' in compensation from the state for the wrongful conviction.   

Miles encouraged anyone else in his position to not give up. He took self-help classes, then earned his G.E.D. and a business degree while behind bars.   

Now, he said he works at an airport and is focused on enjoying life and time with his family.

Semanchik said this was the first day that Miles came to Orange County "willingly.'' In fact, Miles had never stepped foot in Fullerton either before or at the time that the auto parts store was robbed June 29, 1998.