October 24, 2024 – LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced on 
Wednesday that a hearing on the exoneration and release of Charlotte Pleytez and Lombardo Palacios is set to take place November 1. Each has spent more than 17 years in prison for an East Hollywood murder in 2007 that LADA’s Conviction Integrity Unit determined they did not commit.
“We must continually re-evaluate questionable past convictions in the interest of justice,” District Attorney Gascón said. “In doing so, we recognize that the system has failed at times, and when it does, the consequences are life-altering. The families of Ms. Pleytez and Mr. Palacios have lost nearly two decades with their loved ones and have suffered profoundly. This process is about righting those wrongs and restoring their dignity. Our hearts also go out to the family of Hector Luis Flores, who tragically lost his life. While we believe this case has revealed deep flaws in the legal process, we will never forget the immense loss the Flores family has experienced.”
On March 28, 2007, at approximately 10:20 p.m., Hector Flores was shot after a verbal altercation in a shopping center parking lot in the 5200 block of Sunset Boulevard in East Hollywood. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
In 2007, eyewitness identifications that later were determined inaccurate, led to the arrests of Pleytez and Palacios. Palacios was 15 years old when he was arrested and subjected to an hours-long interrogation. He eventually claimed he was there and fired shots into the air, statements not presented to the jury and later recanted.
Pleytez never wavered from pronouncing her innocence. She was age 20 and two months pregnant at the time of her arrest. She gave birth in handcuffs in county jail and had her newborn removed from her care after just one day.
On October 6, 2009, a jury convicted Palacios and Pleytez of first-degree murder. Each was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
The DA’s office was invited to work with lead attorney Ellen Eggers, Pleytez’s attorney Matt Lombard, Palacios’ attorney Nicolas Tomas, and the California Innocence Advocates to secure justice for both individuals. Tomas — Pleytez and Palacios’ then-sole attorney — submitted the initial request to the CIU in November 2022.
Tomas had discovered Pleytez’s and Palacios’ claims of innocence to be credible while still in law school and began working to exonerate both. Separately, attorney Rob Scroggie and private investigator John Brown began investigating the case at the request of Pleytez’s mother. Over time, Tomas, Brown, Lombard and Eggers combined efforts, eventually joining forces with Megan Baca of the California Innocence Advocates.
The CIU not only established that Palacios and Pleytez were innocent but found that they were not at the scene or involved in any way. The collective investigation yielded new evidence pointing to new suspects.
The CIU, with Pleytez’s and Palacios’ attorneys, filed a petition to vacate the convictions and find both factually innocent. A hearing on the petition will be held on November 1 at 1:30 p.m. in Dept. 56 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center before Judge William C. Ryan.
The exonerations would mark the 15th and 16th exonerations under the Gascón Administration.
Source: Los Angeles County District Attorney
