Ruben was finally able to honeymoon with his wife Maria in Los Angeles after 12 years of being separated because of an injustice prison.

Ruben Martinez was arrested by police in 2007 for allegedly carrying out a series of armed robberies in Los Angeles, California. He was sentenced to 47 years in prison in 2008.

However, the 49-year-old was not involved in the crimes, but it took 12 years for him and his wife, Maria Martinez, to prove this. On November 12, Ruben was released and returned to his wife after 4,500 days of separation.

"This is a miracle," Ruben said. "I cried in the cell. The feeling was like you were in a dark tunnel and God brought light to you." They are on their honeymoon, 12 years after the wedding.

Ruben and Maria didn't even believe they were back together until now when they thought about the past. They married in December 2006, 5 months before Ruben was arrested. On the morning of June 1, 2007, Ruben finished his job and was walking to a liquor store near his home in Boyle Heights, when police arrived to catch him.

"At that time, I thought something bad was happening to my family," Ruben said. "I sat in the police car and thought about what it was all the time."

The police then took Ruben to the interrogation room, asking to answer a series of questions to find a way to establish a connection between him and a group of criminals in his neighborhood. Eventually, the police announced he was accused of participating in armed robberies, though he denied it. Meanwhile, Maria returned home to find the police ransacking everything to carry out a search warrant.

Ruben said he was charged with nine different crimes in connection with a series of robberies in a car garage in Boyle Heights, where he has never been, due to his appearance almost identical to what the victim described. about the masked bandit who participated in the attacks.

Prosecutors say the simplest way for Ruben is to accept a plea agreement and only receive a two-year sentence. Ruben's lawyer at the time agreed with this option, but the Ruben couple did not.

"Doing what they say is like admitting to being a sinner, while I don't. I can't lie like that, and believe that the tree doesn't fear death," Ruben said.

Maria understood that refusing to accept a plea meant that her husband would face many risks, but she supported his choice. To save Ruben, Maria went to all the places he had worked during the time of the robberies, collected timesheets and compiled a list of witnesses. However, all the evidence in it was not approved by prosecutors and said it was a fake one.

On May 20, 2008, Ruben was sentenced to 47 years and 8 months in California state prison after two trial hearings, although the only evidence the prosecutor gave, fingerprints collected at the scene, no completely coincides with Ruben.

Maria nearly collapsed when consecutive events struck her family. Ruben went to jail, her nephew was killed on the day Ruben was sentenced, and her mother-in-law also died two years later.

Maria didn't have the money to regularly visit Ruben, when the prison where he was located was more than 320 km from Los Angeles, but she never gave up hope of saving Ruben from there. Maria, with the help of relatives and friends, has repeatedly filed an appeal with the court with detailed records of Ruben's innocence, but all were denied.

By 2015, hope was open to Maria when Jackie Lacey, Los Angeles's federal prosecutor, formed a unit to review judgments, and for the first time in nearly 10 years, Maria's evidence was given. consider.

The prosecutors later reopened the investigation of the case, interviewed witnesses and eventually concluded Ruben was innocent. Ruben was one of three fortunate people out of a total of more than 1,900 petitions sent to this unit at the time.

"A lot of people have come to me to ask for help for someone injustice," Lacey said. "I have heard many stories, but Ruben's case is very special, because in all that time, they never once gave up hope and lost confidence in the legal system."

In addition to being released, Ruben will be compensated $ 140 for each day of unjust imprisonment, with the total amount of compensation amounting to more than $ 600,000. However, according to Lacey, this amount can not compensate for the suffering that this family has suffered during 12 years of unjust imprisonment.

"I just can't imagine how they spent those 12 years," Lacey said.

As for the Ruben couple, their reunion is more important than all. Ruben has decided to become a volunteer for the food bank in Los Angeles, where Maria is working, and enjoying the happy days with his wife.