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I
know that my uncle believed
in me. My mom says she didn’t
have her doubts, but she
had her doubts. My uncle
never did. When I got out,
my uncle and his partner
had a room ready for me.
He had an extra room in
his house. So they fixed
it up. They had a bed and
a TV for me, and they had
my Dallas Cowboys helmet-phone—a
phone that’s a helmet.
I would stay with my mom,
but I decided that being
at my uncle’s there
was more freedom. You should
be able to do whatever you
want to do. You don’t
want people telling you…
That’s part of getting
out.
I had a good relationship
with [my relatives]. I was
really socially awkward.
I couldn’t look anybody
in the eyes; I still don’t.
When I would go out and
I would not be very talkative,
they would try to draw me
out. Everybody I’ve
seen that just gets out,
they’re not ready
to talk when they get out.
So [my uncle] would take
me out dancing to the clubs.
He would, like, make the
sacrifice.
My uncle, when I got out,
he taught me how to dress.
He took me to get my prescription
glasses. I paid for half,
he paid for the other half.
I remember picking out my
glasses, and I’m looking
at the 1980s style, those
teardrops. And him and his
partner come up and go,
“No, no, no! The teardrops
are gone. We’ll get
you some nice, in-fashion
little ones.”
For a month or two I did
nothing. I traveled around
the country. I started working
in about May, April—worked
at a concrete company. And
then I started school, went
to finish my bachelor’s
degree. I was a business
major. Accounting came naturally
to me. When I started taking
business classes I really
took to them well.
And then I took a business
law class and I thought,
“This is where I belong.”
I decided to go to law school,
and I decided to apply to
Wisconsin, and then eventually
I got my settlement.
Barry Scheck, Johnnie Cochran,
and all them, their law
firm sued the city. Well,
I did, I sued the city of
Austin and the police department.
Eventually we settled. We
settled for $[5.3] million.
Barry Scheck was the first
famous person I ever met.
Somebody told me that most
lawyers can walk into an
airport and not get recognized,
but Barry Scheck and Johnnie
Cochran go to an airport
and they get recognized.
They’re like rock
stars of the law. Barry
Scheck is a hero to people
in prison. But I met him
and he was really, really
humble. I expected somebody
that was full of himself,
but he was so warm, so genuine.
He said, “You’re
going to be in front of
the media. Here’s
some tips for talking to
the media.” And he
told me how politicians
speak to media, how you
pick three points and stay
on them. And when I talk
to the press I always remember
what he told me, and I carry
that through law school.
Ochoa
was admitted
to the University
of Wisconsin
Law School in
2003, where
he became a
student of John
Pray and Keith
Findley, the
professors who
had worked to
free him. He
joined the Wisconsin
Innocence Project
in 2004.
The
[acceptance]
letter came,
and I realized
I was going
to law school.
I couldn’t
believe it.
A couple of
years before,
I was at the
bottom of the
barrel, here
now I was going
to one of the
top law schools
in the country.
It all seemed
surreal. I felt
it was like
a brand-new
start for me.
I felt, I finally
felt, like there
was something
that was my
own, my very
own. It felt
like finally
my life, it’s
beginning again,
which it actually
has.
I was so excited
when Wisconsin
said yes. When
I was in East
Texas, in prison,
you can tell
you’re
looked down
on—you’re
Hispanic, you’re
black. They
won’t
say anything,
but you can
feel it. And
here, walking
in Madison,
the first time
I walked to
State Street,
it was like
they didn’t
even, you know,
they didn’t
stare, it was
nothing different
to them. My
biggest thing
is that I want
to be part of
society. I want
to be normal,
whatever normal
is. I just want
to walk through
a mall, or walk
through a street,
not be treated
different because
I was in prison.
I did my first
year here, and
now I’m
doing my second
year. I do pretty
well when I
set my mind
to it here in
school, when
I really study.
When I read
for class, and
I go prepared,
I really understand
it.
But I can’t
sleep. I wake
up in sweats.
You know, when
you take the
law school finals,
because those
things are like
four hours long—I
have to get
eight hours
of sleep. Well
I can’t…
I haven’t
got eight hours
of sleep in
forever. When
my finals roll
around, I have
to go to bed
at six o’clock
at night in
order to get
the rest. Because
I wake up lots
of times. That
really is affecting
my law school
work.
My social skills, they were
lacking. I’m a thirty-eight-year-old
working with twenty-year-olds.
I didn’t fit in. And
I’m still shy by nature.
People think I’m this
conceited guy, but it’s
not that. People didn’t
mean to on purpose, but
it happens—I say something
and it gets dismissed. I
would make a suggestion,
and they would act like,
“What do you know?
You’ve been in prison.”
A couple months
later they would
see that I was
right.
It’s
hard for me
to be close
to people. My
family doesn’t
understand at
all. It’s
kind of hard
to trust people.
And then, in
the prison,
you learn not
to trust people.
You’re
taught very
early on, don’t
trust anyone.
No one. If you
want to survive
prison you have
to not trust
anyone. You’re
a kid; you’re
learning these
things. You’re
twenty-two years
old.
One thing you
do learn is,
you have to
shut off your
emotions. You
have to have
no emotions,
’cause
other prisoners,
when they see
weakness they
attack, physically
and mentally.
So I had no
emotion in my
heart. Just
because you
don’t
have emotions
doesn’t
mean you’re
not a cool person,
doesn’t
mean you’re
a mean guy,
you’re
just a jerk.
You still treat
people with
respect, you
still help them,
but you don’t
show anything.
And that was
very difficult
for me. I didn’t
want anybody
to see me, and
now I don’t
let anybody
see me break
down. I have
dreams, I have
nightmares.
I don’t
tell anybody.
I don’t
tell my mom,
I don’t
tell anybody.
They don’t
see what I go
through.
I’ve dated
before. It was
the sex part
that I had a
difficult problem
with. When I
care about a
woman, I have
problems performing
sexually, because
prison, you
really couldn’t
look at women.
If you look
at them wrong,
the female guards,
you were beat
up pretty good.
Sex is so very
prohibited.
Of course, people
still do it—naturally,
you’re
human—but
they suppress
it as much as
they can. The
masturbating
and stuff, they
don’t
want people
to do that.
You know, prison
just did a lot
of things to
me.
I think my problem was that
I don’t want to be
controlled. I don’t
want to be told what to
do, and when I am dating
somebody and she tries to
tell me what to do, it’s
not going to happen, because
I’ve just been told
what to do all my life.
Next:
That’s all the money
did—put me where I
was supposed to be
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