YOLO COUNTY -- A former Davis man was freed from state prison more than one month ago, after a Yolo County judge ruled his rape conviction should be overturned and his nearly 400-year sentence vacated based on new evidence and testimony presented in habeas hearings.
Ajay Dev (right) moments after his release from custody May 23, 2025 Ajay Dev"Based on my review of this entire case, I believe that, in fact, Mr. Dev could be innocent of these charges," Bernoio ruled on May 16.
Dev sat down for his first on-camera interview exclusively with CBS Sacramento.
Dev considers this a second chance at life, now navigating a new world outside prison walls.
He describes listening to the judge's ruling from inside prison walls, when he learned his nearly four life sentences were vacated.
Ajay Dev pictured with his two sons, now 15 and 17 years old Ajay DevDev walked out of custody and into the arms of his family.
"One of the biggest losses for me out of this whole incarceration was the loss of fatherhood," Dev said. "Nothing comes close to that. It's even worse than being falsely accused of something. Traumatic as it is, no father wants to be denied their children. And that was hard."
"While I was doing time, I feel like they were also doing time with me. It's not easy, and for their mother to raise two children on her own, it's been hard on her," said Dev of his wife of 20 years and one of his biggest supporters, Peggy Dev. In 2017, the couple amicably divorced.
The former engineer for the California Department of Water Resources turned to teaching math to fellow inmates. He also spent his time studying his own legal case.
He also had to learn to forgive as the emotional toll was heavy.
"It was unbearable. Moments where I would just stare at the wall, looking at my two kids' picture, praying. There were days I'd pull the covers over my head so my cellmate would not see my in those weak times where I'd cry," said Dev. "I even thought about committing suicide, to be honest. This hatred just consumed my soul. I knew this wasn't helping me. I started to really pray and start to forgive those people who have betrayed me. I think that gave me some strength."
Ajay Dev (right) and his defense attorney Jennifer Mouzis (left) Ajay Dev"To put it in one sentence, she saved my life. She did save my life," Dev said.
"There was a lot of indication it didn't happen and not a lot of evidence it did happen. When I looked at it, I saw more and more cracks in the armor. If you stripped away some of the stereotypes used to gain a conviction, some of the implicit bias incorporated into the trial about Nepali culture and people from Nepal, if you strip that away, there really wasn't evidence it occurred," Mouzis told CBS13 in May.
"In the interest of justice, I hope the district attorney reviews the case every carefully and reaches a sound decision, and that is to drop the case in its entirety. If not, I am confident that we will prevail in the end," Dev said.
The DA's office told CBS13 in a statement, "The People are prepared to retry the matter when the defense is ready to set the matter for trial."
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