Long Branch Murder Exoneration Detailed in National Registry Database

The details of the exoneration of a man charged in a Long Branch murder case from the 1980 was released by the National Registry of Exonerations this week.

The list was complied by University of Michigan Law School and Northwestern University and details cases where people were found to have been wrongfully convicted for crimes.

Damaso Vega, 37, was sentenced to life in prison on June 8, 1982 and charged with murdering 16-year-old Maria Rodriguez, a woman with whom he allegedly had a romantic relationship with, in her Long Branch apartment on July 30, 1980.

After years of appeals, Vega was finally granted a new trial by Superior Court Judge Robert Figarotta, who vacated Vega’s conviction on Nov. 15, 1989. Vega was exonerated a little less than a month later.

"Ultimately, Vega reached out to Centurion Ministries and its director, James McCloskey, who conducted an investigation and obtained recantations from all three witnesses (who testified in the original trial)," the database entry states.

One witness who had originally said Vega admitted to the killing said he was promised a deal to dismiss assault charges pending against him, the entry states.

Another witness said he was pressured by the lead detective on the case, Pat Lipka, to say that Vega was on the victim’s porch.

"The witness said he had seen someone, but it didn’t fit Vega’s description," the entry states "The witness said the detective also persuaded him to change the time he saw the man so it would not conflict with Vega’s alibi."

The third witness, the Rodriguez’s sister who said she had seen Vega and her sister kissing and hugging, revealed that she helped Det. Lipka fabricate the case because the detective had convinced the family that Vega was the killer.  

"Further, some of Lipka’s reports on the case had been altered and were never turned over to the prosecution or the defense," the entry states.

Judge Figarotta said the “the entire process was one that called into question everything Detective Lipka did, and everything he testified to…before the jury in 1982.”

The National Registry of Exonerations database lists 891 cases that have occurred since 1989. To view the registry, click here.