Mark Diaz Bravo

The Crime

On Feb. 20, 1990, while 31-year-old Mark Bravo was working as a nurse at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, California, a 27-year-old patient at the hospital approached a guard and said that she had been raped that afternoon. 

The Investigation

When the woman was interviewed by hospital authorities, she named several different people as her attacker, including Mr. Bravo. At the time, the woman was a patient at the hospital for treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. 

The following morning, Mr. Bravo was questioned. He asserted that he was innocent. On the day of the crime, he had left the hospital at 11:00 a.m. and had not returned until after 12:30 p.m. He had been in meetings from 1:00 p.m. until after 3:00 p.m. Afterwards, he had gone home that night, unaware that the woman had claimed she had been raped that day. 

On March 23, Mr. Bravo was arrested and charged with rape after serology testing failed to exclude him as the source of biological evidence found on the victim’s clothing and a sheet.

The Trial

In August 1990, Mr. Bravo’s defense attorney Steve Nieto filed a motion seeking a continuance to obtain DNA testing. The prosecution opposed the motion. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge C. Robert Simpson denied the motion because a backlog at the crime lab would have necessitated a delay in the trial.

Mr. Bravo went to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court in October 1990. The victim testified that she had been outside the hospital on the grounds when Mr. Bravo offered to get her some food and she got into his car. She explained how he had driven her to an area of the hospital grounds, forced her out of the car, and taken her into an alcove of one of the buildings. Then, she described, he had struck her in the mouth and chest, pulled down her clothing, and raped her. Afterwards, she walked about a half-mile to a hospital police officer, arriving around 3:10 p.m. to report that she had been attacked. 

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Crime Lab criminalist Richard Catalani testified that sperm had been recovered from the victim’s clothing. The prosecution presented a blanket found at the crime scene with male biological deposits. The blood type found on the blanket was found in only 3% of the population, from which Mr. Bravo could not be eliminated. Mr. Catalani, however, falsely testified that only 1.5% of men had that blood type, leading jurors to believe that the probability statistic was twice as strong as it actually was. 

Mr. Bravo testified and denied committing the crime. He described his whereabouts that day, including meetings that lasted just past 3 p.m. Then, he had spent until about 3:40 p.m. photocopying study materials for an exam the following day.

Numerous employees testified and corroborated Mr. Bravo’s account.

Despite that testimony, the jury convicted Mr. Bravo on Oct. 19, 1990. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The Exoneration

Mr. Bravo’s appeals all the way to the California Supreme Court were denied. Attorney Sylvia Paoli subsequently sought DNA testing, and ultimately obtained a court order from Superior Court Judge James Bascue for the testing to be performed in October 1993.

DNA testing was performed on a sheet, a blanket, and a pair of underwear that were collected from the crime scene. The results came back on Dec. 24, 1993, showing that none of the stains matched the DNA profile of either Mr. Bravo or the victim. Mr. Bravo was therefore eliminated as the perpetrator. By that time, the victim had recanted, saying that she had had sex with someone else and falsely implicated Mr. Bravo.

On Jan. 6, 1994, Mr. Bravo’s convictions were vacated, the charges were dismissed, and he was released.

Mr. Bravo subsequently filed a civil suit naming multiple defendants. He received a settlement of $15,000 from his trial attorney and $875,000 from Los Angeles County. In 1998, Mr. Bravo earned a law degree from Western State University School of Law. That same year, he was awarded $4 million by a jury for violations of his civil rights by the primary investigator in the case. The judgment was appealed, but ultimately Mr. Bravo prevailed. By the time the state paid out the award in 2004, interest brought the total that Mr. Bravo received to just over $7 million.