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The Hispanic
cop, Hector Polanco, was
writing a statement. He
wanted me to say my codefendant
[Danziger] was the one that
did it, and he came and
told me about it, that he
did it, all this kind of
stuff, and I just went along
with what the detective
was saying. Signed the statement.
Then I wanted to go home.
He says, “You can’t
go home. We want you to
stay at a hotel for your
own protection.” Then
he asked me for some lab
samples. Some semen and
hair and all that. I gave
him the semen and the hair.
I wanted to. While at the
hotel, now I’m getting
really worried. I’m
scared, really scared. I
call my roommate Roger.
“I think I need an
attorney.”
I was there [at the hotel]
for the weekend. Come Monday,
the detectives walked in
and they picked me up. And
they said, “Okay,
now we know you’re
guilty, ’cause you
wanted to call for an attorney,
and only guilty people call
for attorneys.” So
now, I don’t know
what’s going on. They
take me to another interrogation
room. Now they got a tape
recorder on. “We think
you had something to do
with it, we think you were
the lookout. If you don’t
cooperate again, the death
penalty’s there, it
hasn’t gone away,
we’re gonna execute
you.”
So I just say, “Okay,
yeah, I was the lookout.”
I just want to go home.
All this time they’re
saying, “Oh, well,
you’ll get twenty
years.” By this time,
I know I’m sunk. I’m
scared. I didn’t know
what they could do. You
just don’t know what
can happen. So that confession,
alleged confession, was
pretty easy, but then all
of a sudden they wanted
more. They wanted me to
be in there, sodomizing
her and raping her, and
I was like, “No.”
But again, the death penalty’s
there, so I’m like,
“Whatever, okay.”
By this time I just want
to get it over with. This
is a long time. I’ve
been there a while. They
tell me, “We think
you were there,” and
all this stuff, so I say
yeah—I just went along
with them. I don’t
know why, I was just scared.
They start tape-recording
it, but the problem was
that any time I came to
a detail in the restaurant,
it was wrong, and then they
would get mad. They would
say, “Well, was this
item there?” I would
say, “Yeah…”
“Then what color was
it?” They had me guessing
for the right color. They
would start the tape and
then would have to stop
it ’cause I got the
detail wrong. So they would
start it, stop it, till
they got the details. It
took a long time.
At one point the sergeant
got up and threw the chair
he was sitting in, at my
head. He missed, but he
threw it with such force,
and I was really scared
’cause those guys
were really big.
The
interrogation
lasted two full
days, during
which the police
repeatedly threatened
Ochoa with the
death penalty.
His requests
for a lawyer
were denied.
By 10:00 p.m.
on the second
day, Ochoa had
signed two separate
statements,
each typed by
one of the officers.
In the first,
he claimed to
be the sole
murderer of
DePriest. In
the second,
he claimed that
while he had
participated
in her rape
and murder,
Richard Danziger
had pulled the
trigger. Ochoa
later retracted
this accusation
in a third statement,
made on March
7, 1989, in
which he implicated
Danziger in
the rape and
the robbery,
but asserted
that he himself
was the shooter.
I
sign the confession,
I get arrested.
I went to the
magistrate.
She was really
upset that I
didn’t
have a lawyer
on a capital
murder case.
So she took
me to chambers.
She yelled at
people, said,
“I want
this guy to
have a lawyer.
Immediately.”
The lawyer they sent me
was just out of law school.
Young. I didn’t know
it, but that’s bad
news on a capital murder.
I tell him exactly what
happened, and he said, “Okay,
fine.” He leaves,
and then the cops tell him,
“No, he’s got
a confession.” And
he says, “Okay, you’ve
gotta be guilty.”
So I told him, “No,
I’m not, I’m
innocent.”
So they get
another attorney—a
lead attorney,
an older attorney.
I tell him the
same thing.
And he got mad.
He wanted me
to plead guilty.
I said, “No.
Isn’t
it your job
to prove me
innocent?”
He says his
job was to save
my life, which
I guess it was,
but he didn’t
even try to
investigate.
“There’s
a detailed confession,
you gotta be
guilty.”
He didn’t
even believe
in my innocence.
I guess the
DA, everybody
wanted me to
plead guilty,
to testify against
Danziger. I
didn’t
want to do that
’cause
I was not guilty.
So I told him
no.
But the problem
was, they were
calling my mom
every day. “He’s
guilty, he’s
guilty. You
got to get him
to plead guilty
and to testify.
If not, your
son is gonna
die on death
row.”
So you can imagine
what my mom
is going through.
And she would
keep on calling
me, telling
me, “You
got to save
your life.”
No, I don’t
want to. I don’t
want to testify.
I don’t
want to plead
guilty. I don’t
want to admit
to it.
But eventually,
she had to go
to the hospital—had
she gone later
she would’ve
had a heart
attack. People
didn’t
want to tell
me. Nobody wanted
to tell me till
my grandma let
it out on the
phone when I
called from
the jail. She
told me what
had happened
with my mom
and I got really
sad, and it
was the hardest
choice I ever
had to make.
I called whoever
I had to call:
“I’ll
plead guilty
to this.”
And I go talk
to them, and
they want me
to plead guilty,
but Danziger
has to be convicted.
They really
wanted him.
I testified
against Danziger.
I’m coached
before I go
into the courtroom
and told what
to say.
Ochoa
pleaded guilty to murder
and sexual assault on May
5, 1989. His sentencing
was suspended until after
Danziger’s trial in
late January 1990. At Danziger’s
trial, Ochoa testified that
he had shot DePriest, but
that he and Danziger had
planned the crime together,
and that they both had raped
her. Although Danziger’s
girlfriend testified on
his behalf that she was
with him at the time of
the murder, she also wavered
under the prosecution’s
threats to bring charges
against her, and her statements
were ultimately not enough
to convince the jury. Danziger’s
defense, furthermore, could
provide no explanation for
Ochoa’s testimony.
Danziger was found guilty
of aggravated sexual assault
and sentenced to life in
prison. Soon after, on March
6, 1990, Ochoa also was
sentenced to life in prison.
Next:
Losing all sense
of direction
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