How a selfie saved a Texas man from 99 years in prison.

She said he broke into her home in Temple.

She said he sliced an “X” into her chest with a box cutter.

She said it happened on Sept. 20, 2017 around 7:20 p.m.

She was his high school girlfriend. The two dated several years earlier, but he couldn’t remember the last time the two had contact.

Now Precopia was facing a felony charge: burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit other crimes.

“I had no idea why everything was happening, and I was lost,” he said.

Precopia was taken to the Williamson County Jail, where his parents posted a $150,000 bond. Then they began fighting to prove his innocence. . . .

On the night of the alleged attack, he was with his mother, Erin, at a Northwest Austin hotel about 65 miles from the accuser’s home.

“I’m thinking, ‘this is awesome. By the grace of God, she said it happened on the day when I can say totally, 100 percent, where he was at,” Erin Precopia said.

There were sworn affidavits from several people who were with him that evening.

There were pictures to prove it, and they were posted on Facebook. Timestamped. Geo-located.

An alibi.

“Most of the time, we deal with gray matters,” attorney Rick Flores said. “It’s not normally black or white. But this is one of those cases where I could definitely prove he did not commit this offense.” . . .

Precopia’s accuser told police that the two had a troubled relationship when they dated in high school several years ago, and she cited that as a reason she reported that he assaulted her.

www.wwltv.com/article/news/how-a-selfie-saved-a-texas-man-from-99-years-in-prison/289-614065008

 

How many men, in the absence of such fortuitous evidence, are doing jail time for equally false charges?

 

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