Marmolejo Retrial: Jury Sees Defendant’s Videotaped Interview With Police

Before the jury was able to look at a video of David Marmolejo being interviewed by El Paso Police, Judge Gonzalo Garcia spoke to the jury about the argument between the prosecution and defense over how the video should be shown.

“If I implied that the state misled you, that’s wasn’t my intent,” Garcia said. “I misspoke if that’s the case, if that’s the impression I created.”

The video is being shown in its entirety first, without any interruption. Thursday the prosecution started showing the video but only in segments, which the defense objected to.

David is charged with murder in the July 2009 homicide of his mother, Gloria Marmolejo.

David is again sitting in the benches with the public so he can see the video statement that was given on Sept. 4, 2009 after he was arrested.

The interview revolves around David’s phone records

-5:14 p.m. July 25, 2009, Gloria, who had just arrived from Phoenix, called David and she told him to go unlock the door to her home in East El Paso. David leaves a movie theater in Northeast El Paso, is driven to his friend’s house to pick up his car, takes Loop 375 and gets home to help his mom unload her luggage from the trip.

– 5:40 p.m. call: Gloria calls David. David says this is the last time he talks to his mother. He receives the call as he’s driving away from the home. In the video statement, he later retracts this statement and says that he received the call on his way to the house. His mother calls to ask if he’s almost at the home.

The time between the two phone calls was a major sticking point for officers, who say times just don’t add up.

– 1:37 a.m. July 26, 2009 call: David calls Akasha Loo in Hawaii, call pings off of Anthony, New Mexico tower, near Santa Teresa desert where Gloria’s body was found

– Series of four calls from David to Mairiah Wilson between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. In the first trial, Wilson, David’s stepsister and girlfriend at the time of his mom’s death, testified that those calls occurred as David dropped off Gloria’s SUV at a nearby school

Det. Joe Ochoa says in the video statement, “I’ll tell you why you don’t remember because that (1:37 a.m.) phone call fully puts you near the locations where your mom was found.”

David denies making the call.

“I don’t believe I called her. I wouldn’t have called her because Mariah was with me,” David said.

Ochoa said, “You’re sitting there with a smirk on your face and that’s because we’re looking at a huge effort about what you told me happened with your mother. Don’t put your family through this. Give them some closure. You fully realize that your story is crap.”

David became defiant during this part of the statement.

“If you have your proof, we’re just gonna have to go to court,” David said. “That’s why I don’t have a lawyer here because I didn’t do anything. I haven’t even had a chance to grieve because I’ve been so worried about myself. My brother said since day one no matter what happens, they’re gonna target you. If that’s really all you’ve got, then that’s ridiculous. You’re got me for murder on a (expletive) phone call?”

David went on to say in the video he didn’t think he’d be able to live in El Paso anymore because of his mother’s death and accusations by police he was involved in her homicide. He also talked about guilt he would feel and what it would lead him to do if he had been involved in his mother’s homicide.

“I’m not gonna be able to live here again where my mother is buried. They’re gonna say, ‘Look there’s the mother fucker that got away with it.’ I’ll be like O.J. Simpson,” David said. “Nobody wants to be accused of killing their mother. I’d be dead right now. I would not be able to live with this on my conscious. This is hard as (expletive). I would have put a bullet through my (expletive) head.”

David told Ochoa that if he was on the outside looking in, he would look just as hard at himself in his mother’s death.

“My mom wouldn’t kick me out. No matter what, my mother has always been on my side,” David said in the video. “You guys have been pointing your finger at me since day one.”

Ochoa, once again, told David to give his family some closure.

“You give ’em closure,” David said.

And Ochoa replied, “I’m trying to.”

“I hope after you lock me up tonight, this isn’t the end of your investigation,” David said.

Det. Robert Posada, talking about David’s family, told David during the interview, “They know you killed your mom. All they want is an apology and to know what happened.”

After the jury was shown the video statement in its entirety, El Paso Assistant District Attorney Denise Butterworth reviewed the clips. The clips all focused on inconsistencies in David’s story, according to Butterworth.

During cross examination, Ochoa said he didn’t see any marks or bruises on David, but he did see cuts on Wilson’s hands.

The jury saw close-up pictures of Wilson’s cuts. Anderson has suggested that police should have looked at Wilson as a suspect in Gloria’s death.

Dr. Juan Contin, Interim Chief Medical Examiner for El Paso, was the 22nd witness to testify in the trial.

He testified Gloria’s body was partially mummified and “fried” due to the desert heat. He also testified Gloria was strangled to death.

Contin said it was unlikely that a leather belt is what killed Gloria and said it was more likely a braided belt or a shoelace

Among the items founds in Gloria’s SUV was a white shoelace tied to a metal ring in the hatchback area. It was never tested for evidence.

Contin said the cuts on Wilson’s hands did not match the strangulation marks on Gloria’s neck.