Man convicted of helping dump body of pregnant woman in Long Beach is released from prison

A man convicted of helping dump the body of a pregnant woman into the waters off Long Beach was released on bail this week after 18 years in prison, another felony case upended because of questions related to the Orange County District Attoey’s Office’s use of jailhouse informants.

Henry Rodriguez, wearing a county-issued paper jumpsuit, walked out of the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange and into the arms of his parents, embracing them for the first time in nearly two decades without being behind bars.

Rodriguez’s bail was lowered last week to $500,000 from $1 million after a judge ruled that county authorities improperly withheld evidence in his conviction for helping to dispose of a pregnant woman’s body after she’d been shot. Richard Tovar of Anaheim was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and other charges for masterminding the plot to kill Jeanette Espeleta, 20, because he did not want to make child support payments.

Beaming up at her 39-year-old son on Monday, Rodriguez’s mother, Virginia, said she was “ecstatic” as they hurried across the street to a waiting truck.

“I can’t believe it,” Virginia Rodriguez said. “He’s out of restraints, and I’m on a public street with him.”

A new trial – Rodriguez’s third for the double murder – might not begin for a few years. The District Attoey’s Office is appealing the ruling that granted the retrial, and such appeals can take years.

Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for the District Attoey’s Office, said prosecutors would work toward sending Rodriguez back to prison as soon as possible.

“We hope that public safety is not compromised by lowering this defendant’s bail,” Schroeder said.

“We intend to retry the case as soon as possible to bring Mr. Rodriguez to justice for the third time.”

In February, Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals reduced bail and awarded Rodriguez a retrial after ruling that evidence about a jailhouse informant was improperly withheld from Rodriguez’s defense attoey, James Crawford.

Goethals is the same judge who last year removed the District Attoey’s Office from the penalty phase trial of confessed Seal Beach mass killer Scott Dekraai, another case that involved the alleged misuse of a jailhouse informant and withholding of evidence.

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That decision, which triggered a national debate, also is under appeal.

At least six murder and attempted murder cases, including that of Rodriguez, have unraveled in the past two years in the aftermath of the snitch controversy. Prosecutors dropped one case and lowered the penalties for others.

Rodriguez was serving a life sentence after being twice convicted of helping a friend dump the body of Jeanette Espeleta about four miles off the Long Beach Harbor. Her body was never found.

Rodriguez’s first conviction, in 2000, was overtued on appeal because police had illegally coaxed his statements and neglected to read him his rights.

The second conviction, in 2006, was tossed by Goethals after authorities failed to tu over documents about an informant used in the case.

Prosecutors, in court, described the informant as a regular inmate who happened to strike up a conversation with Rodriguez, not a seasoned snitch working for several police agencies.

Prosecutors argued that although the informant had worked in the past for police, he wasn’t working for authorities in the Rodriguez case.

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