After 21 years, freedom is final

LYNN – Angel Echavarria, 48, of Lynn, who was convicted of the 1994 murder of Daniel Rodriguez, also of Lynn, will not be retried, it was announced Monday by the Essex District Attorney?s office.Echavarria was found guilty of the murder in 1996, but the verdict was overturned. According to DA Jonathan Blodgett, a lapse in time led to not pursuing the case any further.Echavarria was released from prison May 21 after serving 19 years of a life sentence.?Given the lapse in time, our inability to locate witnesses, and the lack of forensic evidence not affected by time, it is not feasible to retry the case at this time,” Blodgett said in a statement issued Monday.Echavarria said he found out when his attorney, Leslie O?Brien, called him at 2:20 p.m. Monday.?She was probably more excited than I was,” said Echavarria, who earned his GED and learned to speak English in jail. “But I feel very good. She asked, ?Do you know something that I don?t know??”O?Brien said Monday was one of the best days in her 31-year career, and she couldn?t be more pleased for Echavarria.He described how the misconception occurred.Echavarria was getting his hair cut on Chestnut Street and Rodriguez?s brother, Isidorio, said he looked like a friend of his. That same day, Isidorio saw Echavarria again at a restaurant and accused him of the murder. Echavarria was subsequently arrested after the brother told police about him.?I don?t understand why Isidorio accused me,” Echavarria said, who spent 13 years at the Bridgewater Correctional Complex and five years at Massachusetts Correctional Institution. “I never knew him other than meeting him that one day. I hope they find the person who was responsible.”He said although prison was tough, he doesn?t feel angry he was there.?I believe in God, and I trusted him to bring that person to justice,” Echavarria said, who said he is a Christian.His GPS-tracking ankle bracelet will be released Tuesday morning at the probation office.?Now, I can go anywhere,” he said with a laugh.His sons, Elliott Hernandez, 23, and Elvis Nolasco, 25, drove from Bronx, N.Y., and bowled with him at Leo?s Metro Bowl in Peabody Monday night to celebrate.?I didn?t expect this day to come so soon,” said Hernandez, who was 4 years old at the time of the sentencing, “God is good. I?m catching up on time that I never got to spend with him tonight.”Hernandez, who spoke to his father daily via phone, explained he always knew he was innocent, but he didn?t have the authority to remove him from jail.Nolasco said he cried and prayed, adding it was difficult without a father figure in his life. He said his late mother, Lissette Hernandez, who died during childbirth in the Dominican Republic May 29, 2013, told them stories about their father. They knew from the start Echavarria wasn?t guilty.?The truth is always going to come out,” Nolasco said, who was 6 years old at the time of the conviction. “I always believed my father that he was innocent. This is big news.”Nolasco said he was surprised to hear the news and that the truth was a few decades late.On April 30, Judge David Lowry overturned the verdict and called for a new trial because of what he called ineffective counsel, Carrie Kimball-Monahan, director of communications for Blodgett, said.Essex Assistant District Attorney A.J. Camelio filed a motion to dismiss indictments charging Echavarria with murder, armed assault in a dwelling (two counts) and armed robbery.The murder took place Jan. 7, 1994. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld Echavarria?s conviction Dec. 22, 1998.Students at the Justice Brandeis Law Project at the Schuster Center for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, under the leadership of Anne Driscoll, took up the case.