Gordon Cordeiro was convicted in 1994 for the murder of Timothy Blaisdell during a drug-related robbery on Maui, Hawaii.
Despite pleading his innocence, the 22-year-old was sentenced to life without parole.
And if it wasn’t for the Hawaii Innocence Project (HIP), he would still be behind bars.
The non-profit takes a look into Hawaii’s cases of wrongful convictions for no cost, and they found that the 51-year-old’s DNA was not on Blaisdell’s body or other crime scene items.
Following the legal motion to vacate his conviction, Cordeiro was released on 21 February 2025.
Judge Kirstin Hamman told the court: “And the judgement and sentence is vacated and the defendant is ordered to be released from custody.”
After getting out, one of the first things he noticed about the world was how ‘everyone is looking at their phones’.
“Everybody is looking at their phones,” he told the Associated Press news agency.
Still grateful for technological advances, however, he said: “Thank God for new DNA. Technology is awesome.”
When the verdict was read out to the court, Cordeiro’s father struggled to hold back the tears.
“Relief, joy, happiness that my son can finally do some family celebrations before I leave this world,” he told Hawaii News Now.
Cordeiro’s mother, Paulette, sadly died in September 1994 from ALS at the age of 49 .
“Thanks for looking over me. Keeping me safe,” her son said when he went to visit her grave.
He was convicted over the 1994 killing of Timothy Blaisdell (The Hawaii Innocence Project)
Ken Lawson, co-director of HIP, said: “This is a case when you hear the facts, you know something deep down was not right.”
“The police botched this case from the beginning and turned the number one suspect into the state’s star witness, resulting in a 30-plus-year nightmare and miscarriage of justice for Gordon and his family,” he added (via The Daily Mail).
Despite understandable adulation from the family, it seems not everyone is convinced that the DNA evidence was sufficient.
“Certainly DNA evidence can be a compelling basis in a cold case such as this from 30 years ago. But I don’t believe they met the standard to have this conviction set aside,” said Maui deputy prosecutor Richard Rost.
Gina Gormley, one of Cordeiro’s attorneys, argued that the deputy prosecutor would be making a mistake if he was to reopen the case.
“If they really sat down and took the time to look at evidence that came out, they should not re-try this case,” she said.
