Daniel Villegas back in court for day 1 of suppression hearing

The prosecution and defense are preparing for the second day of testimony in the suppression hearing for Daniel Villegas.

His defense attorneys want his confession to a deadly drive-by shooting more than 20 years ago thrown out of evidence.

This is the third time the El Paso district attorney is pursuing capital murder charges against Villegas. His 1995 conviction was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in December 2013.

The state called three former El Paso police detectives to the stand Wednesday. 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.

Former Detective Scott Graves testified that Villegas supporter and local businessman John Mimbela had contacted his wife’s boss, and sent packets of information and photos of a young Villegas to his home.

Graves said he felt “harassed” by Mimbela.

When asked if he ever felt that Mimbela, who is paying for Villegas’ defense, gets too enthusiastic in advocating for Villegas, defense attorney Joe Spencer said, “I will sometimes tell John that maybe he shouldn’t be so aggressive. But John does what he does. He’s passionate and believes strongly in Daniel’s innocence, so I’ll deal with that.”

The prosecution declined to comment on the hearing after court dismissed for the day.

Spencer told ABC-7 he expects testimony to wrap up Thursday. The hearing in the 409th District Court resumes at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.