The Case of Pablo Velez

📻 Episode #554
🎙️ Hosted by Lauren Bright Pacheco
📅 Dec 11, 2025

⬥ STILL IMPRISONED

About This Episode

Case status as carried in this site's original 2026 profiles. Independent record verification is rolling out episode by episode — statuses are being re-checked against court and registry sources and date-stamped as verified.

The Case

In the early morning hours of July 14, 2004, 19 year-old Adrian Payan and 18 year-old Emerson Bojorquez were ambushed at a nightclub in Houston, TX. A man named Jason Wooley fired the first shot of the shootout, and a man waited outside in a Cadillac, wearing a blue shirt and firing shots from an assault rifle. Bojorquez was killed, but Payan survived. Witnesses noted the Cadillac’s license plate number and police traced it to Pablo Velez, Jr. Velez had a solid alibi, but an eyewitness apparently identified him in a photo lineup. As a result, Velez was convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

https://www.facebook.com/JusticeforPabloVelezJr/Texas Board of Pardons and ParolesP. O. Box 13401Austin, Texas 78711-3401E-mail: bpp_pio@tdcj.texas.govhttps://www.lw.com/

To get involved in helping exonerees like Pablo Velez rebuild their lives after release:

www.after-innocence.org

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts

Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.

00:04:37
“Speaker 5: everybody busted out laughing. Speaker 4: Right, he said sometimes, he said. Speaker 5: You know what he said, man, just show up tomorrow. Speaker 4: And he came in the job. Speaker 5: They showed me how to well, they showed me how Speaker 5: to fix breaks. They showed me how to work on vehicles,”

00:17:07
“Speaker 1: But curiously, the prosecutor, Iileen Bogar even said in her Speaker 1: opening statement that she was not expecting an in court Speaker 1: identification from Claudia. Speaker 7: When Claudia Beltran sees Pablo Valles at his trial for Speaker 7: the very first time, what does she say to the prosecutor?”

00:30:21
“Speaker 7: encourage folks to do that. Speaker 2: I'm broke now and I'm not going to break and Speaker 2: I'm not gonna let him break and keep on keep Speaker 1: So this season we're really talking about accountability. We know Speaker 1: why wrongful convictions happen, but how do you stop them”

Listen to the Episode

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🔊 How You Can Help

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← #553 Jeff Smith #555 Frank Gable →

Also on the podcast: #185 Pablo Fernandez