Day 2 of Daniel Villegas suppression hearing continues

The Daniel Villegas suppression hearing continued Thursday morning.

The first wintness to take the stand was juvenile department officer Mr. Martinez.

He said he had no specific memory of the Villegas case.

Martinez also was asked if he recalled an incident where Villegas wanted to press charges against another officer tin that department named Arturo Vazquez.

Villegas complained that Vazquez had struck him on the back of the head.

The officer was asked if Vazquez was the type of person that would strike a juvenile and he answered, no, he was not.”

The second witness was Mario Aguirre, a juvenile probation officer. Aguirre was questioned about the procedure followed when a juvenile was brought in.

He said he would check the paperwork and check whether there was evidence to proceed.

If there was, he was to ask the accused if he wanted to make a statement in private without the presence of the police.

In the case of Villegas he said he checked the paperwork and proceeded to ask Villegas if he wanted to make a statement at that time.

Aguirre said Villegas answered “yes.”

The prosecutor read from the record where it stated that Villegas declared he was only asked his name.

Aguirre was asked if this could be true and he said Villegas was not telling the truth.

The defense attorney questioned Aguirre and asked if he was present during the conversations between Villegas and the police officers when he could have been threatened, he answered “no.”

The third witness was an officer with the El Paso Police Department, Mike Beliz.

The last witness will be a judge but due to his schedule he cannot be present till 1:30 this afternoon.