Villegas, prosecutor react while waiting for suppression ruling

It could be weeks until we hear whether or not a judge will exclude from evidence Daniel Villegas’ 1993 murder confession.

Villegas was convicted in 1995 for a drive-by shooting that resulted in a double murder. That conviction was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last December.

Judge Sam Medrano refused to listen to closing arguments from the prosecution or defense at Villegas’ suppression hearing.

“Now that it’s all over I feel a weight is off me. Now we just got to wait how the judge rules. We’re hoping that we’ll get a rule in our favor,” Villegas said.

A decision by Medrano is expected by the end of the month. He will decide whether Villegas’ confession from more than 20 years ago can be used as evidence.

“I believe the judge is gonna suppress the evidence. The judge has no choice given the state of the evidence that was presented in the suppression, the writ hearing, and his first and second trial as well,” defense attorney Joe Spencer said.

This is the third time Villegas has faced trial for the drive-by shooting murders of Robert Englund and Armando Lazo in northeast El Paso in 1993.

“The admissibility of the statement given by Daniel Villegas has been ruled upon four separate times and each time has been held to be voluntary and admissible,” prosecutor Denise Butterworth said in a written statement. “At the hearing this week, detectives, a probation officer, and a municipal court judge unequivocally denied statements that the defendant made against them. We believe these witnesses are truthful and the statement was legally obtained.”

“Even when this finishes, it’s always gonna stick by me. To this day, I still wake up at night and stuff. This is something that’s never gonna go away. It’s marked for life,” Villegas said.

The new trial is set for January 2015.