Friends had Reggie Cole imprisoned for nearly two decades until the innocent project won their release. Find out more about him.
Reggie Cole had always maintained that he was not a serial killer. Yes, he’s a thug. Sure, he’s a drug dealer. He asserted, though, that he was not a murderer. He sunk a 6-inch shiv into the neck of a violent inmate named Devil till his last day in prison.
Cole had been condemned to live in jail for the murder of a man outside a South L.A. brothel fifteen years before.
Is The Wrongly Convicted Reggie Cole Still In Prison? What Happened To Him?
Reggie Cole was arrested in 1994 for the assassination of Felipe Gonzales Angeles. He was released from jail in 2010 after a Los Angeles County court reversed his murder conviction in 2009.
Cole had always maintained that he was not a serial killer. He sunk a 6-inch shiv into the neck of a violent inmate named Devil till his last day in prison. Surprisingly, that murder put Cole on the road to freedom. But his joy on the courthouse steps was short-lived, as he became enraged and determined to clear his name.
The continuous legal struggle would paint two opposing views of Cole: one as an unrepentant killer who cheated the system to get his release, and the other as an innocent guy who was converted into a killer by California.
On March 28, 1994, at midnight, LAPD homicide detectives arrived at an apartment building at 49th and Figueroa streets. The two-story edifice was a brothel, and the place was run by John Jones, a pimp who ran prostitutes from flats on the first floor.
A man named Felipe Gonzales Angeles had approached the locked door hours before and demanded to see Melinda, a prostitute he knew. As Angeles returned to his car after being assaulted by three gunmen and shot to death, the man keeping guard said Melinda was occupied. Jones was questioned by police and informed them he saw three men’s faces as they shot up at him from below while fleeing.
When the two discovered they had been charged with the murder of Angeles, they were in jail. On all counts, the verdict was guilty. Cole and Anthony were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Where Is Reggie Cole Now In 2022?
Reggie Cole’s present status is unknown; some news reports believe he has been released, while others believe he is serving a life sentence for stabbing a man in a jail dispute in November 2000.
Since if guilty of a second murder, he might face the death penalty, the attorney representing him, in that case, looked into his earlier conviction.
The lawyer learned that the prosecution had hidden proof showing Jones had lied in court. In collaboration with the California Innocence Project, Cole’s lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing concealed evidence and incompetent trial representation.
Cole sued the city and county of Los Angeles in federal court for civil rights violations. In January 2017, the lawsuit was resolved for $5.2 million. California Governor Jerry Brown approved $340,620 in state compensation for Cole in July 2017.