Cassandra Rivera

After hitting theaters from jail, Rivera stressed about getting a working work as being a convicted sex offender and felon. She had her son, now inside the very early twenties, take her around city trying to find work. She got happy once the supervisor for the Wash Tub, car clean string in San Antonio, learned all about her instance and stated he’d be proud to employ her just a couple of weeks after her launch. Another manager at The Wash Tub, and felt some mutual attraction at that job, she met Tiffany Hurtado. Sooner or later, Hurtado asked her away, therefore the two hitched in December 2016.

Rivera left The Wash Tub and had been racking your brains on her next move. Regional attorney Rosie Gonzalez required assist in her workplace. She had become friendly aided by the San Antonio Four after helping along with their instance and reached off to Rivera, seeking assistance distributing your message. Rivera decided she desired to use the role.

Rivera joined any office summer that is last where she helps run what the law states company and Gonzalez’s campaign. Rivera didn’t understand whom Gonzalez had been when she had been locked up, but she later learned exactly how included Gonzalez had become along with their situation. “She ended up being certainly one of our sounds out hereshe had been certainly one of our advocates,” Rivera says. “She felt a good belief in us and place the term out, and as a result of her, far more people heard of us.”

Gonzalez raves about Rivera as an important person in notice team and praises her work ethic, smarts, resilience, and great attitude. She states having Rivera at the office really assists brings the objective of their work home and offers an unique viewpoint.

Rivera states Gonzalez is a separate lawyer whom fights for just what she thinks in, making the partnership a fit that is ideal. “I like her drive and I also desire to be an integral part of that,” Rivera says. “We’re a team and now we work with the instances together, and I’m learning the way the system works inside and away. It’s amazing.”

She’s also motivated when you’re element of and learning a great deal concerning the system that failed her, she states. Since numerous of Gonzalez’s situations include Child Protective solutions, Rivera claims she’s additionally gotten to understand the particulars of how it functions.

Her work usually has her during the courthouse in downtown San Antonio, where she’s come across the prosecutor from her and Ramirez’s test.

“But it generates me feel great to understand we’ve been exonerated, we’ve been completely cleared and innocent, and I’m in a position to head into that courthouse each day plus they note that; https://lesbiansingles.org/her-review/ they understand me,” Rivera says that they didn’t break. “It also makes me personally delighted that my children observe how strong we am and that I’ve be one thing. We never ever thought I’d be where i will be today.”

After being accused of one thing therefore unsightly, Rivera does feel on guard sometimes around kiddies, even those who work inside her family members. But she attempts to maybe maybe not allow it arrive at her excessively. Such as the other ladies, Rivera enjoys most of the speaking opportunities and distributing the message that life should be taken for n’t granted and that can be studied away from you right away. She states she and her friends that are young no understanding of the way to handle their appropriate dilemmas, as well as in retrospect, managed every thing so wrong. Whenever speaking, especially to youth, Rivera claims it is crucial that you teach them to their legal legal rights sand how to deal with encounters with police force.

“We would like them become knowledgeable regarding the justice system; if something similar to this occurred to us, it may occur to anybody,” Rivera says. “We thought we had to cooperate completely, which we did because we had absolutely nothing to conceal. But we didn’t have our solicitors current, and there have been therefore a lot of things we needs to have done at our trial.”

She specially enjoys talking at high schools and universities, to ensure young adults can early hear their messages. “We need certainly to start early and grow the seed young with it,” she says so they grow.

Rivera states she additionally frequently stocks all about Facebook, such as for instance exactly just what conviction that is wrongful to people and just how we are able to help a lot more people prevent wrongful conviction. She additionally assists the Innocence venture just as much as she will and it is passionate about LGBTQ causes.

“There’s so much we should do,” she says. “A great deal of men and women are just like, why would you like to stay static in it? You’re practically right back in which you began. We stay here it go because we can’t let. Lots of people would simply want to forget, but we can’t forget.” Across Rivera’s forearm now read the words that are tattooed 11-23-16.”