### Jailhouse Snitch’s Secret Deal Revives Child Rapist’s Appeal
Pennsylvania’s Superior Court has overturned the dismissal of a convicted child sex offender’s late appeal, ruling his prison buddy’s hidden plea deal qualifies as “newly discovered” evidence that prosecutors buried.
Samuel Frank Marrero-Nardo Sr. was convicted in 2017 of sexually assaulting two young girls over a year in 2004-2005. Victims testified directly, but key was jail inmate Luis Figueroa, who claimed Marrero-Nardo confessed to the crimes—including regular sex with the older girl and molesting the younger—and plotting to blame his own son. Figueroa, facing theft and drug charges, swore under oath no promises were made for his testimony, though he hoped for leniency like rehab over prison. The jury heard his cases were pending, his quick release after snitching, and eventual rehab placement—but not the full story. Marrero-Nardo got 92 months to 17 years; appeals failed.
Years later, in 2023, new counsel dug up Figueroa’s 2017 plea transcripts from the same prosecutor. Shockingly, just days after Marrero-Nardo’s trial, Figueroa got global probation on both cases—one pled to misdemeanor with “mitigated range” sentencing explicitly tied to his “helpful” testimony about child abuse details the victims couldn’t recall. The ADA admitted the deal “evolved” from that snitch work. Marrero-Nardo cried Brady violation—prosecutors hid impeachment gold, letting Figueroa perjure himself and even arguing in closing “no promises were made.”
The trial court tossed his PCRA petition as untimely, saying he lacked “due diligence.” Superior Court disagreed, citing its own 2014 Davis precedent: No defendant must hunt unrelated transcripts assuming witnesses and prosecutors lie. The facts—Figueroa’s deal and the cover-up—were unknown and undiscoverable earlier. After-discovered evidence claim? Dead, as it’d only impeach. But Brady? Unresolved. Remand for fact-finding on suppression and if it likely flipped the verdict amid other evidence like Marrero-Nardo’s own incriminating Facebook message to a victim.