A man arrested in Georgia on a Louisiana fugitive warrant says he was working at San Francisco's Pier 39 at the time of his alleged crime.
James Michael Riley, 38, has petitioned to be released from illegal detention in Athens, Georgia, where he has been held since Dec. 15. He says he was on duty at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in San Francisco on the day in 2008 that he was supposedly committing a felony theft in Orleans Parish in Louisiana.
According to Online Athens, Riley's writ points to his residential history (including a recent move from Oakland) and having a common name to attempt to prove that this is a case of mistaken identity, stating that the charge was handed down "without a shred of evidence as to proper identity of the perpetrator connected to the alleged crime."
But the publication also points out that once Riley retained an attorney in 2015, "his counsel chose to challenge Louisiana’s failure to timely bring the case to trial. Nothing was brought up about Riley being mistakenly identified in the subsequent court documents filed by Riley’s attorney, and the Louisiana court ruled against Riley’s motion to quash the bill of information."
Riley currently awaits extradition to New Orleans.
