Anna Vasquez on Everyday Injustice

On the latest episode of the Everyday Injustice podcast, host David Greenwald speaks with Anna Vasquez, a survivor of wrongful conviction and now Director of Outreach and Education for the Innocence Project of Texas. Vasquez was one of four women—collectively known as the San Antonio Four—who were falsely accused and convicted in the 1990s amid a wave of homophobia and “Satanic panic.” Now exonerated, she dedicates her life to helping others avoid the same fate.

Vasquez recounts the harrowing experience of being accused of sexually assaulting two young girls, an accusation rooted not in evidence but in hysteria. The case was fueled by homophobic stereotypes, flawed forensic testimony, and a social climate gripped by fear of devil worship and child abuse. A pediatrician’s now-discredited interpretation of supposed trauma and vague allusions to Satanic influence helped seal their fate. “It didn’t matter that we weren’t even there when they said it happened,” Vasquez explained. “It was all part of the panic at the time.”

The podcast delves into the broader implications of junk science in wrongful convictions. Vasquez highlights how unproven medical theories—like the belief that hymenal “scarring” indicated abuse—were accepted as fact in courtrooms, despite no scientific foundation. “That wasn’t science. It was a belief,” she says. Her case mirrors countless others where lives were destroyed by outdated or erroneous forensic assumptions.

Despite spending more than a decade behind bars, Vasquez emerged not only free but determined to make change. She shares the emotional journey of rebuilding trust—first with a filmmaker whose documentary Southwest of Salem helped raise awareness, then with legal advocates who fought for her release. Her story is a powerful reminder of the human cost of wrongful convictions—and the extraordinary courage it takes to keep fighting for justice.