Greetings!  My name is Leonel "Fingers" Cazaco.  I am 49 years old and I have been incarcerated in US Federal Prison system for 25 years serving a LIFE sentence for capital murder and drug conspiracy charges.

A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE

I am serving a LIFE sentence for three murders that I did not commit. I have maintained my innocence since the beginning.

On January 12, 1994, the day of the Sugar Bottom triple homicide, the lone survivor Charles Meekins, gave the Richmond PD the descriptions of the men who shot him and killed his three friends.  Composite drawings were created and the drawings depicted two black males, 5'6" to 5'8" in height,  with a heavy build and medium to dark complexions.  I am 6'4" in height, dark complexion, with a very slender build.  The composite drawings depicted the images of Peter Paul and Colin Joseph, both of whom cooperated with the government.  Colin Joseph was entered into the witness protection program.  Peter Paul was never called to testify at trial by either the prosecution or the defense and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy.

Peter Paul's grand jury testimony was mysteriously leaked to the Richmond-Times Dispatch and appeared on the front page of the newspaper on the day that jury selection began.  Had Peter Paul been called to testify at trial by my defense attorney, his testimony would have destroyed Colin Joseph's credibility as a witness.

On November 8, 1997, an article was published in the Richmond-Times Dispatch in regards to the 1994 Sugar Bottom killings (see link below) which stated:

Just before sentencing, the attorney for co-defendant Richard Anthony Thomas declared "that his client was the only person who fired shots and Leonel Cazaco did not fire any shots."

https://richmond.newspapers.com/search/?query=Poison%20Clan&t=13835&ymd=1997-11-08

CRIMES COMMITTED AS A YOUTH

My involvement in the offense began when I was 19 years old and lasted for 22 months.  My personal history, however, makes it clear that I was caught up in a life of crime at a very young age.

Since my sentencing on November 7, 1997, Congress, the Sentencing Commission and the Supreme Court have acknowledged the mitigating impact of an adolescent's neurobiology.  The courts have found that "an offender's youth, combined with society's evolving understanding of the adolescent brain, constitutes an extraordinary and compelling reason for a reduction in sentence."

See United States v. Ramsay, 2021 below:

https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-ramsay-6

If you would like to help or learn more about my case, go to justiceforleonelcazaco@gmail.com