Leonard McSherry

The Crime

On March 11, 1988, a six-year-old girl, identified as C.B., was abducted from a playground at an U.S. Naval housing complex in Long Beach, California. She was taken to a house where she was sexually assaulted and then was released.

The Investigation

C.B. was taken to a hospital where a rape kit was collected. Ten hours after the abduction, C.B. and her four-year-old brother, who was with her when she was abducted, were interviewed by police. They gave varying descriptions of the man, but both mentioned that he had made C.B. get into a green car.

Five days later, a neighbor told police that on the day of the abduction, she had seen a suspicious-looking man in the area. Her description of the man resembled the one given by C.B. The neighbor also noted seeing a green pickup truck in the area on that day.

During the next several weeks, C.B. was interviewed again and was shown a photographic lineup that featured 37-year-old Leonard McSherry. Mr. McSherry’s photograph was included because he had previously been convicted on three occasions of child molestation, as well as loitering at a school. 

C.B. identified Mr. McSherry as the perpetrator. Several days later, she was shown the same photographic lineup and once again identified Mr. McSherry. When shown photographs of several vehicles, she identified a photograph of Mr. McSherry’s father’s yellow station wagon as the vehicle she had been abducted in. 

The victim then viewed to a live lineup. She did not identify Mr. McSherry until she left the viewing room. She told police she had been afraid to identify him while in the viewing room.

On May 17, 1988, police arrested Mr. McSherry at the home of his grandparents. During an interrogation, Mr. McSherry was asked to provide a detailed description of the interior of the home, including the wall art, the colors of sheets and blankets on a bed, and the color and location of furniture.

The police obtained a search warrant for the home the following day and took photographs. They stated that the victim had provided a crime scene description consistent with one of the bedrooms in the house, and that she had looked at a photographic lineup of houses and selected Mr. McSherry’s grandparents’ house as the location of the attack.

Mr. McSherry was charged with rape, oral copulation, digital penetration, and kidnapping. A day later, the neighbor who had reported seeing a suspicious man near the park identified Mr. McSherry in a live lineup.

The Trial

In October 1988, Mr. McSherry went to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The victim identified him as her attacker. The neighbor identified Mr. McSherry as the suspicious man she saw near the playground.

A forensic analyst testified that although one of the stains found on the victim’s underwear showed type A blood activity which excluded Mr. McSherry, the result was inconclusive because the result could have been due to “bacterial contamination.”

On Oct. 25, 1988, the jury convicted Mr. McSherry on all charges. He was sentenced to 48 years in prison.

The Investigation

In 2001, Mr. McSherry obtained a court order for DNA testing of the evidence. The testing excluded Mr. McSherry from the crime. When the DNA profile from the evidence was submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Information System (CODIS), it was matched to 59-year-old George Valdespino. By that time, Mr. Valdespino was serving a prison sentence of 45 years to life for the 1997 kidnapping and molestation of another girl. 

When questioned in prison, Mr. Valdespino admitted he had kidnapped the six-year-old from Long Beach’s Navy Housing Project and raped her in a motel room. 

On Dec. 28, 2001, Mr. McSherry’s convictions were vacated, the case was dismissed, and he was released from prison.

Mr. McSherry later was awarded $481,000 in compensation from the state for 13 years of wrongful incarceration.