SANTA ANA, Calif. – Eder Herrera lost his mother and brother to a gruesome stabbing and spent three months in jail as the prime suspect.
Even after his high school friend Itzcoatl Ocampo confessed to the crimes and four other killings in Southern California, authorities say Herrera is still under suspicion in the deaths of his family members.
Herrera is now trying to clear his name, filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against police for wrongful imprisonment and fighting deportation proceedings that were spawned by his 2011 arrest.
The 26-year-old is expected to appear in court Friday asking authorities to return his car, laptop and other personal belongings seized in the investigation of the murders.
Ocampo was arrested in 2012. Three weeks later, Herrera was freed.
Last year, Ocampo committed suicide in jail.
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