California man's 378-year sentence overturned after judge rules accuser may have made up charges
The hazy skyline of downtown Los Angeles is seen from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
WOODLAND, Calif. — A Northern California man's 378-year sentence for sexual assault has been overturned by a judge who said there was strong evidence that his adopted daughter made up the accusations to punish him and improve her prospects of remaining in the U.S.
Ajay Dev, 58, was released May 23 after 16 years in prison for 76 convictions of sexual assault on a minor and related charges, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.
Superior Court Judge Janene Beronio scheduled a hearing for June 13 for Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig to decide whether to retry Dev. Prosecutors could also appeal the ruling. Reisig's office declined to comment on the case Wednesday.
Jennifer Mouzis, who represented Ajay Dev in his appeal, filed the habeas corpus petition seeking to free him in 2018.
Dev, an immigrant from Nepal who worked as a water engineer, was visiting the South Asian nation with his wife in 1998 when they decided to adopt 15-year-old Sapna Dev, part of their extended family, and bring her to live with them in Davis, California.
In early 2004, Sapna Dev's boyfriend broke up with her, and she accused Ajay Dev of causing the breakup, Beronio said in her ruling. Later she told police that Ajay Dev had had sex with her two or three times a week for three or four years until she moved out of his home, the judge said.
Four witnesses who had not been contacted by Dev's trial lawyers testified at a recent hearing that Sapna Dev had told them that her accusations against him were lies or were motivated by her anger at him, the Chronicle reported.
One of the witnesses said Sapna Dev told him she made the accusations because she 'was determined to return to the United States and needed to use the criminal charges to do that,' Beronio said.
It wasn't clear if Sapna Dev had an attorney who could speak on her behalf, and efforts to contact her were not immediately successful.
Deputy District Attorney Adrienne Chin-Perez contended during a hearing last week that Ajay Dev continues to pose a flight risk and a danger to the community, the Davis Enterprise reported. She also read a statement from Sapna Dev, who wrote that she is 'deeply afraid that Ajay will harm me.'
The judge's decision 'dismantles the DA's case,' said Patricia Pursell, a member of advocacy group that has held demonstrations in support of Dev.
'We have known from the beginning that Ajay Dev was wrongfully convicted,' she told the Chronicle. 'Judge Beronio was the first judge to really look closely at the evidence and read every document.'
Mouzis said much of the prosecution's evidence was based on racial and ethnic bias that would be illegal today under California's Racial Justice Act, a 2021 law barring testimony that appeals to prejudice.
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