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Ochoa stresses reforms
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Also by Jenna Sachs:
- Dean's office suggests department overhaul (April 6, 2005)
- Journalist questions Bush (March 9, 2005)
- Professor challenges issues of free speech (March 1, 2005)
- Ochoa stresses reforms (February 17, 2005)
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- Ochoa represents strong WIP success (February 27, 2006)
- Task force recommends reforms (January 24, 2005)
- Wisconsin Innocence Project pulls images of accused murderer (March 6, 2006)
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by Jenna Sachs
Thursday, February 17, 2005
University of Wisconsin law student Christopher Ochoa, who was wrongfully imprisoned for murder, spoke of the necessity to reform the criminal justice system in front of a small group in the Memorial Union Wednesday night as a part of the Capital Punishment portion of the Distinguished Lecture Series.
Alongside Ochoa were UW law professors Keith Findley and John Pray, co-directors of the Wisconsin Innocence Project that proved Ochoa’s innocence in 2000.
Ochoa spent 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
The chief reform supported on the night was the need for videotaped confessions. In 1988 in Austin, Texas, Ochoa claims officers harassed him into signing a false confession for the sexual assault and murder of Nancy DePriest, even though there was no evidence linking him to the crime. During the two days of interrogation, police officers threatened Ochoa and lied to him about his rights.
One officer threw a chair at him and squeezed his arm to show him where Ochoa could receive a lethal injection.
“White guys always walk, and the Hispanics always get the needle,” Ochoa said the authorities told him.
Ochoa said he was shown pictures of death row and DePriest’s autopsy, and police officers told him he would not be able to hug his mother or see his family again if he did not sign the confession.
“[The interrogations were] psychologically draining,” Ochoa said. “Everything I had been taught in school, that you can talk to the police, just went out the window. It is something I still have nightmares about.”
According to Ochoa, as police recorded his confession, Ochoa guessed about the details of the crime until they matched the report. Finally the detectives typed the statement and Ochoa repeated what they said to him.
Ochoa said he understands why people doubt he would confess to a crime he did not commit.
“Don’t say you wouldn’t confess until you sit in the chair I was in,” he said.
Pray and Findley stressed the benefits of legislation that requires videotaped confessions, such as in Minnesota and Alaska. Findley cited a study of 156 people wrongly convicted of crimes, and nearly one-fourth included false convictions.
“It seems counter-intuitive, but Chris’ story shows how it can happen,” Findley said.
The legislation would protect both the suspect and the police officers. It also prevents any information from becoming twisted, Pray said.
Even if required video confessionals became legislation, Findley and Pray said there is no such thing as a “foolproof” system. They said as long as the death penalty exists, innocent people could be sentenced to death despite using the best methods available.
Findley and Pray praised Wisconsin for its “great statewide [legal] defense system.”
The death penalty is not legal in Wisconsin, despite some legislators’ attempts to reinstate it.
Adam Diederich, director of the Distinguished Lecture Series, expressed agreement with the panel’s recommendation to tape interrogations.
“The one concrete thing that can be done is to record interrogation,” Diederich said. “I feel if anyone saw this presentation, they would feel the same.”
The Wisconsin Innocence Project includes 20 law students who provide legal assistance to inmates with provable claims of a wrongful conviction. Ochoa is now enrolled in this program.
