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Ex-Mexican Pop Star Trevi Out of Prison



CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (AP) - Former Mexican pop superstar Gloria Trevi walked out of prison to cheers early Wednesday, after a judge acquitted her of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors charges.

Judge Javier Pineda spent more than a month deliberating, but finally ruled Tuesday night that there wasn't sufficient evidence to convict the 36-year-old fallen icon and two backup-singers. Cheers erupted when Pineda declared Trevi innocent.

Pineda read his decision in front of a courtroom cage holding Trevi and Maria Raquenel Portillo. The second backup singer, Marlene Calderon, was in the room, but not behind bars.

Wearing a white tank-top and a broad smile, Trevi greeted a long line of reporters waiting to interview her before leaving this northern city's Aquiles Serdan Prison.

"I'm happy. You can see that, there's no need to ask," an almost giddy Trevi said.

"I can't believe it. In the morning and through out the day, I felt like I was in an old western movie, like my head was in the noose and I was waiting for a cowboy to arrive to save me," she told The Associated Press.

Despite downpours that flooded nearby streets, dozens of fans waited outside the prison hoping to catch a glimpse of Trevi. For hours, they screamed and waved signs that said "Finally free!"

Trevi's mother, Gloria Ruiz, said there was little doubt her daughter would return to recording. Trevi had been writing songs in prison and was expected to sign a new record contract in a matter of days, Ruiz said.

Prosecutors have at least five days to appeal the ruling. They had alleged that Trevi, Portillo, Calderon, and their manager, Sergio Andrade, sexually abused girls who joined their globe-trotting entourage looking for musical training.

When officials discovered that Andrade's troupe had abandoned a child in Spain in 1998, Trevi, Portillo and Andrade disappeared, touching off a Latin America-wide manhunt. They were arrested in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in January 2000.

While in Brazil, Trevi got pregnant and gave birth behind bars. DNA tests revealed the baby was Andrade's.

Trevi's chief accuser, Chihuahua native Karina Yapor, left the courtroom before Pineda read his verdict Tuesday night, telling reporters she thought Trevi would be absolved.

"This is an international embarrassment," the 21-year-old said. "A failure of justice."

Yapor joined Trevi's entourage at 12 and gave birth to the abandoned baby, which she has claimed was fathered by Andrade.

After years behind bars in Brazil vowing to fight extradition for the rest of her life, Trevi suddenly decided she wanted to have her day in court and was flown to Chihuahua, 760 miles northwest of Mexico City, in December 2002.

Andrade was extradited from Brazil last November. He is being tried separately.

Trevi, nicknamed "Mexico's Madonna," was one of the country's biggest pop sensations in the 1990s. Her first three records, featuring songs of adolescent frustration, sold over 5 million copies. Even though her last hit came in 1996, Trevi continues to fascinate Mexico, where posters and calendars of her nude and seminude remain popular.