40 years ago, a gay Apache Indian named James Reyos was convicted of killing an Irish Catholic priest named Patrick Ryan in a seedy Odessa motel room—even though Reyos had an airtight alibi & there was zero evidence he had been at the crime scene. 1/ 
What nailed him: a drunken confession he made 11 months after the murder and immediately recanted. Why did he confess to something he didn’t do? It’s complicated --you’ll have to read the story! 2/
But suffice to say Reyos was not comfortable being gay. He grew up on a New Mexico reservation. “Apaches were brought up to be brave and strong,” he said, “and not gay. I knew that I was.” Ashamed and alone, he became an alcoholic. 3/
At the same time, the priest was living a hidden life of motel-room hookups while leading a small-town congregation. It was the early 80s. It was west Texas. Something bad was bound to happen. 4/
Reyos always said he was innocent and over the 80s & 90s he started picking up allies: A man who had prosecuted him later said it was “physically impossible” for him to have killed the priest. The priest’s own boss said Reyos was innocent. 5/
Reyos’s story was written in numerous publications, from @DallasNews to @Newsweek. @chronic_jordan and @AustinChronicle put him on the cover in 2005. 6/
But Reyos needed the state of Texas on his side. Last year the Odessa police found some old fingerprints from the case & ran them thru a modern database—and surprise! Three other men were in that seedy motel room with Ryan back in 1981. And one was a very violent dude. 7/
Yesterday Reyos’s lawyers w @innocencetexas filed a writ of habeas corpus to have him declared actually innocent. The Odessa cops and the DA are not only cooperating, they’re helping drive the train to exonerate Reyos. 8/
Very few men have ever waited longer to be exonerated than James Reyos has. He is an amazing guy: a quiet loner who is super-focused on clearing his name so he can finally go home to the New Mexico rez where he grew up. tinyurl.com/vyxyus72 @TexasMonthly end/
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