DNA evidence clears Dallas man wrongfully convicted of 1997 murder in Deep Ellum

Santillan was released from jail Dec. 14 while the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed his case. In February, the high court agreed with prosecutors and defense lawyers that Santillan was innocent in the slaying of Damond Wittman, 21, outside a Deep Ellum nightclub.

The appeals court issued a mandate Tuesday that allowed for an exoneration hearing to take place Wednesday in state District Judge Audra Riley’s court, lawyers said.

Recent DNA testing led investigators to a man in Colorado who they believe shot Wittman in the early morning of July 14, 1997.

In a news conference after Wednesday’s hearing, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said that man was a juvenile at the time of the crime and state law prevents the release of his name. The suspect was detained this year in Colorado and will face court proceedings in Dallas County, Creuzot said. He could be certified to stand trial as an adult, at which point his case would become public, the DA added.

The case against Santillan rested on a sole eyewitness who picked him out of a six-person photo lineup on his second time viewing the photos with Dallas police, according to court records.

DNA results from evidence collected before Santillan’s trial did not link him to the crime, according to court records. An anonymous tipster admitted recently to the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit that he received reward money for naming Santillan, according to court records.

Santillan insisted he was innocent and provided an alibi, but a jury found him guilty of capital murder on March 5, 1998. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Five witnesses testified at trial that they were with Santillan at a different nightclub about 12 miles away on the night of the shooting, according to court records. One of the witnesses was a security guard, according to The News archives.

Prosecutors were wrong to take the case all the way to trial, Creuzot said.

“Today, we would not have taken it to trial,” he said.

Santillan, with the help of the legal team at Centurion Ministries Inc., petitioned the conviction integrity unit several times to retest DNA.

In 2021, DNA found on the cuffs of the sleeves of a bloody Dallas Stars jersey believed to have been worn by the shooter excluded Santillan. Those results revealed profiles of another man and a woman, according to court records.

“Some juries convict on the trust of police and prosecutors and not on the evidence, and I think this was one of them,” said Paul Casteleiro, legal director of Centurion who represented Santillan.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie García, who was not with the department at the time, issued a statement saying that what happened to Santillan was a “terrible injustice.”

“I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of our partners involved to clear this man’s name and make sure the true person responsible for this heinous crime is behind bars,” the statement read. “The exoneration and the arrest of the person responsible is the justice Mr. Santillan deserves, while providing true justice for Mr. Wittman and his loved ones.”

Friends of Wittman sat in the back of the courtroom. A woman cried softly as the judge apologized to Santillan.

The friends declined to comment to The News. Santillan said one of them approached and congratulated him. The two exchanged phone numbers, Santillan said. Santillan shared that he doesn’t harbor anger and asked the friend to express his condolences to Wittman’s family

The crime

Wittman was smoking with two others in a parking lot outside a Deep Ellum club when a Hispanic man approached and asked for a cigarette. Wittman obliged, and the group engaged in small talk, Brian Mackin testified in the 1998 trial, according to The News archives.

The man then pointed a gun and demanded money, Mackin said then. Wittman kicked him, and the two got into a scuffle. Wittman was shot multiple times in his torso before the gunman fled, according to court records.

Witnesses said the shooter was a Hispanic man who looked to be in his late teens, was about 6-feet tall and weighed about 180 pounds. He wore a black Dallas Stars jersey, according to court records. Dallas police found a jersey matching the description in a street a few blocks away, according to court records.

Mackin did not pick anyone out of a photo lineup the first time he was shown the pictures with Dallas police, according to court records. He asked to view them again, and then picked Santillan. At trial, Mackin was the only witness who identified Santillan. Three other witnesses said they could not positively identify him.

Mackin’s reliability was questioned during the trial. Mackin said he had been awake 14-15 hours prior to the shooting and had been drinking all day, according to court records.

‘They believed in me’

Santillan spent the first 11 years in prison “upset with everybody,” he said. In 2002, Santillan asked a judge to approve DNA testing. That request was denied, court records state.

He came across a 2007 article in The News about another man who was exonerated with the help of Centurion, so he reached out to the New Jersey-based nonprofit.

“They believed in me,” he said. “They kept fighting.”

In 2008, the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit agreed to DNA testing of the Stars jersey. A DNA profile was not obtained, according to court records. Testing was done again in 2014 with a partial DNA profile collected, but conclusions could not be made, according to court records.

Each time the defense team got a chance at testing, Santillian was amped up only to be shot down when they didn’t yield results.

“There were a lot of disappointments, and it takes a toll on you,” he said.

They tried again in 2021. This time, DNA profiles of a man and woman were revealed, court records state.

Investigators identified the woman, and a Dallas police detective got in touch with her, court records show. The woman gave police the name of the suspect who she said she dated when he was 16 or 17 years old.

The man “used to wear a lot of Star jerseys” but came home one night without one and his hands were bloodied, the woman told police. He told her he’d gotten into a fight and left the jersey behind.

Santillan was transferred from prison to the Dallas County Jail last year while his case was under review. In December, Judge Riley signed an order agreeing with prosecutors and defense lawyers that DNA results prove Santillan’s innocence.

A few years ago, Santillan determined that he would let go of any anger or hatred he still carried.

“I didn’t want to come out with any type of hatred in my heart,” he said.

Santillan was released from jail Dec. 14, but his case still hinged on the Court of Criminal Appeals granting relief. Fear welled in the pit of his stomach that he could still be hauled back off to jail at any time.

“I was out, but I wasn’t free,” he said.

Even after the high court issued its opinion in February, it didn’t feel real, he said. It finally sunk in when Riley added her apology in court as well on Wednesday.

“Now it’s real,” he said. “Now I can take a deep breath.”

Santillan walked out of the courthouse wearing a white T-shirt with the words “I didn’t do it.”

He laughed with his family and lawyers over lunch. His phone buzzed with texts from relatives. They sent video recordings of local news reports showing him leaving the courtroom. Santillan showed the videos to his aunt and lawyer.

Santillan has goals to get a job, his drivers license, a car and eventually his own home. For now, he lives with his aunt, uncle and two cousins in Oak Cliff.

His cousins, Isaiah and James Aguilar, said he still sticks to a structured routine he grew accustomed to in prison. He wakes up at 6 a.m. and is particular about when he drinks his coffee and takes a shower.

“It’s a lot to take in right now,” Santillan said. “Today was the first day that everything was actually right. It’s over with. Now I can start.”