The Case of Rafael Madrigal

📻 Episode #562
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Feb 19, 2026

⬥ STILL IMPRISONED

About This Episode

On July 5, 2000, Ricardo Aguilera was shot and wounded in a gang related drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, California. Several witnesses identified 25-year-old Rafael Madrigal Jr. in a photo lineup as either the shooter or driver of the car involved. Those witnesses testified against Rafael at trial.

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

Rafael, who maintained his innocence throughout the ordeal, had been at work at Proactive Packaging, a 50-minute drive away, at the time of the shooting. A co-worker could have confirmed his alibi, and his boss could have testified that he was certain Madrigal was at work because he was the only one who knew how to operate one of the machines in the production line. But Rafael’s defense attorney only called a single co-worker to the stand at the trial, and did not present a recording of Rafael’s co-defendant admitting that Rafael was not involved.

On January 18, 2002, a jury convicted Rafael of attempted murder and he was sentenced to 53 years to life in prison.

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.

00:05:56
“Speaker 4: witnesses and the victim, and they all started with one Speaker 4: of the witnesses maid that I resembled the shooter. Speaker 5: Okay, wait a minute now, first of all, wait, wait, Speaker 5: let's go back. Let's go back for a second. So, Raphael, Speaker 5: you were sixteen when your picture was taken.”

00:22:53
“Speaker 5: you feel like you were going to be exonerated? Or Speaker 5: you were you like, oh, you know they've got me Speaker 5: and that's going to be it. Speaker 7: No, know, I I like, honestly, I never did my Speaker 7: faith in the truth.”

00:39:17
“Speaker 5: you manage it once you do get it. That would Speaker 5: be the job of that board. If I was running it, Speaker 5: I would say, Okay, let's make sure that not only Speaker 5: are you going to get it, but you're going to Speaker 5: know how to invest it. We're going to show you”

Listen to the Episode

🎧 Listen on Omny / the podcast's platforms

Resources & links from the episode:

🔊 How You Can Help

Share this case, follow the organisations working on it, and support the podcast's fight for the innocent at lavaforgood.com.

← #561 Rodney Roberts #563 Fred Clay →

Also on the podcast: #74 Rafael Madrigal · #444 Rafael Martinez