SPRINGFIELD — A shopkeeper who spent more than a decade behind bars before a jury acquitted him has filed a lawsuit saying police officers working the case pressured witnesses to make false statements that led to his incarceration.
“In December 2010, Mr. Hernandez was convicted of the first-degree murder of Mr. (Alberto) Rodriguez based solely on false eyewitness testimony induced by the (Springfield Police Department),” Hernandez’s amended complaint reads. “There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime and the physical evidence that existed contradicted his role in any crime.”