The third man, Martin Soto Fong, was convicted in a separate trial. His fingerprints were found at the scene, but he says Godoy planted them there.

Such a claim might be dismissed as outlandish if it weren't for the pattern of misconduct already demonstrated, [Arizona State Bar Attorney Karen] Clark said.

Soto is hoping for a new trial, but this is the kind of judge he's up against:

Godoy has retired from the police force. Three separate grand juries considered perjury charges. Two issued indictments, which were dismissed by a judge, who found the grand jury was presented irrelevant prejudicial information and was manipulated in the proceeding.

The same judge, Lina Rodriguez of Pima County Superior Court, had volunteered previously to be a character witness for Peasley in his bar discipline proceedings, Clark said.

Peasley was disbarred, one of the few instances in which a prosecutor who suborned perjury received significant disipline for his betrayal of the public trust. Compare his case to Terry McEachern's, the prosecutor who failed to tell the defense that his star witness, Tom Coleman, was a crook, leading to the wrongful convictions of dozens of defendants in Tulia, Texas. McEachern keeps his license, but must be on probation for two years--less than a slap on the wrist.

Karen Clark, who pursued the disciplinary case against Peasley, worries that Soto may be innocent.

Clark points to an additional problem with the Soto case: Two police reports covering the same anonymous tip were filed - and they named different suspects. One identified the market murderers as a "black man named McKinney" and "Cha Chi." The other said "McKinney" and "Martin Soto" were involved.

A major part of Soto's defense was that he was a victim of mistaken identity. Soto, a Mexican citizen whose mother was Chinese, was not "Cha Chi," he argued. Another Martin in the neighborhood used that nickname.