ONLY ON ABC-7: Lawyer of alleged getaway driver in homicide speaks to ABC-7

The lawyer of one of the three suspects accused of murdering a teenager near downtown El Paso on Oct. 30 is speaking out.

Justin B. Underwood represents 18-year-old Armando Torres. Underwood continues to defend his client’s innocence and says he was not involved in the shooting death of 18-year-old Aaron Ochoa at the intersection of Rio Grande Avenue and Stanton Street.

“Wasted youth. It’s a shame, it’s a tragedy and people really need to realize consequences of your actions that last forever and ever and ever,” Underwood said about victim Ochoa.

“Armando did not at any point during that day pick up the other two and take them to that parking lot,” Underwood said.

Court documents accuse Torres of driving the two alleged shooters away from the crime scene. Underwood says the other suspects, 19-year-old Miguel Bygoytia and 17-year-old Gustavo Valencia, got into Torres’ SUV without his client realizing what had happened.

“Told them, ‘I don’t want anything to do with this. You guys? What are you doing?’ In my opinion, it took a lot of guts to tell two armed men who just committed what they did to get out of his vehicle and they got out of the vehicle two or three blocks later,” Underwood said.

An arrest affidavit says Ochoa knew at least one of the shooters and had an argument with him days before his murder.

Underwood said his client and the victim grew up together and Torres, who is charged with murder, sits “scared to death” in a jail cell, waiting to hear if his bond will be reduced from $1 million and when and if he’ll be formally indicted by a grand jury.

Even though Underwood said Torres made the two alleged shooters get out of his SUV blocks from the scene, Torres was located by police with the vehicle in northeast El Paso. Underwood said while being questioned by investigators, his client repeatedly offered to take a lie detector test.