Judge rules Daniel Villegas’ 1993 statement in murder case can’t be used at trial
Judge Sam Medrano has ruled Daniel Villegas’ nearly 20-year-old murder confession cannot be used in court.
Medrano ruled then-El Paso Police Det. Al Marquez obtained Villegas’ confession in violation of his constitutional rights.
“For the first time in 21 years somebody finally believes Daniel. He’s been protesting that the confession was coerced since the day that he gave it. He recanted a few hours as soon as he was away from those detectives,” said John Mimbela, the local businessman who’s funded Villegas’ legal defense.
Medrano also ruled the testimony of Marquez was not credible and that the state failed to show Villegas’ statement was voluntary.
Villegas, who was 16 at the time, has maintained he was coerced into confessing to a deadly drive-by shooting that killed two people – Robert Englund and Armando Lazo – in Northeast El Paso in 1993.
Judge Medrano also ruled the state “failed to meet its burden to show that Daniel Villegas knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to not make a statement.”
During last month’s suppression hearing, the state called three former El Paso police detectives to the stand. All of them denied hitting, threatening or even yelling at Villegas, which Villegas claimed happened when testifying about his arrest shortly after the shooting in 1993.
Under cross-examination two of them admitted to changing their testimony from previous trials and hearings. Earl Arbogast and Carlos Ortega testified Wednesday they had “made a mistake” and changed their testimony since first taking the stand against Villegas 20 years ago.
Villegas was in prison nearly 20 years until the Court of Criminal Appeals threw out the conviction in December 2013.
The District Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman, Claudia Duran said the D.A. accepts the Judge’s decision but also respectfully disagrees and plans to again move forward with the case against Villegas.
Villegas’ new trial is set for early January 2015.
