Congressional candidate Daniel Butierez talks about his time in prison

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The election for the Congressional District 7 seat is not a traditional race as the two candidates do not fit the traditional candidate image.

Incumbent Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, is back in the race after beating cancer. He told 13 News this is his 12th and final run for political office.

His challenger Daniel Butierez is not a typical candidate. The Republican was sentenced to ten years in prison for a crime that the state of Arizona admitted 28 years after the fact that he did not commit it.

“That’s why I’m not angry,” Butierez said. “I think the walk I took is dedicated to this very moment.”

“I was homeless. I was in prison,” he said.

Butierez, 58, generally funds his run himself, which he said cost him $40,000 out of pocket.

He was actually in prison twice.

The first case came at the height of the drug war in 1991, when he was arrested for possession of about a gram of marijuana, mostly seeds and stems, he said.

“You know it was a joint,” he said. “There was never an offer to sell, I never offered to sell anything. In fact, I told the officer that I don’t buy or sell weed and I don’t even smoke.”

But while awaiting trial, he violated the terms of his probation. It was a decision that cost him his freedom.

“So I was on probation, I violated it. I drank on probation and they mistreated me and put me in prison for 10 years,” he said.

But it is a prime example of how the wheels of justice grind slowly. Nearly three decades later, the state admitted that Butierez “was convicted of a crime he did not commit,” and in 2020 the court overturned the conviction.

“There was no due process at all, there was no charge, no crime committed, no allegations, there was no charge, it just didn’t exist,” he said. “It was just pointless.”

But the costs of imprisonment – he was released after 4 ½ years – were insurmountable for Butierez and the loss of time weighed heavily on him.

“Everything I owned was gone,” he said. “My kids were gone, everything.”

So he started running with the people he met in prison, which led to a whole new set of problems.

“They introduced me to a drug called crystal meth and crack cocaine,” Butierez said.

Using these drugs led to years of homelessness and a new prison sentence for another four years.

He said he did a lot of soul searching, found religion and now said those days were behind him.

“My passion is the homeless, it goes deep into my heart and I hate to see them out there,” he said. “I actually go out with them, spend time with them and talk to them.”

In addition to working with the homeless, Butierez now owns a painting business that he said generated more than $1 million in sales last year. He has four abused horses that he now cares for and lost or abandoned dogs that he finds homes for.

He has his voting and gun rights back and is quickly trying to make up for lost time.

“But it’s like the Grand Canyon from this life to the next, to overcome that and become that man again,” he said.

A man who doesn’t run away from his past, but tries to make what he once was into what he is now. He decides to lay it all out there and run for office on the biggest stage of his life.

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