Extended interview: Defense attorney Dayna Jones on the use of confidential informants, overturned convictions

This story is part of a KSAT 12 Defenders investigation into the use of confidential informants by law enforcement. The one-hour special report airs on KSAT 12 on Feb. 1 at 9 p.m. Find more here.

Dayna Jones is a criminal defense attorney in San Antonio. She devotes a large amount of her time helping clients who have already been convicted, specializing in appeals and writs of habeas corpus.

In 2020, she was appointed to represent Rexina Linan-Juarez, John Cape, and Louie Garcia when the Bexar County District Attorney’s office discovered a confidential informant used by BCSO narcotics deputies had planted evidence in a similar case.

Jone’s work on the cases led to the exonerations of Linan-Juarez, Cape, and Garcia.

In this extended interview Jones discusses her work on the case and shares her thoughts on the use of confidential informants.

Read more from this series:

• WATCH FULL SPECIAL: “‘A Necessary Evil’: The Cost of Confidential Informants,” a KSAT 12 Defenders Investigation
• Planted drugs, secret deals, lies: How one bad informant ruined the lives of at least 4 San Antonians
• What is a confidential informant?
• What is actual innocence?
• How experts say to reform the confidential informant investigative process
• Timeline: The cost of confidential informants in Bexar County