Maria paula ochoa biography of christopher

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Other days, though, he realizes that speaking about his experiences can help focus attention on the justice system’s flaws.

“I’m just happy somebody finally listened to me, and that somebody finally believed me,” he says. His first semester was rough, in part because he was regularly flying to Texas and Florida as part of his lawsuit against the city of Austin.

“I told them I’d given up on the system. Students there began investigating his claim of innocence. The police began investigating local Pizza Hut employees on the theory that a master key was used to gain entry.

Christopher Ochoa and Richard Danziger were roommates who also worked at an Austin area Pizza Hut. They were observed by a Pizza Hut waitress eating and drinking beer in what she surmised to be a toast to the victim.

Danzinger's release was delayed until the following March because, while in prison, he had been severely beaten by another inmate and suffered brain damage. This evidence was purportedly contaminated in testing.

Forensic Science Associates, a private forensic laboratory in California, had retained a sample from testing performed at the time of the trial in 1989.

Spokesmen later said the office assumed the matter would be handled elsewhere.

In the summer of 2000, a leak from police led an Austin television reporter to the story. He said he and Danziger raped and murdered Nancy DePriest, something that 12 years later would be proven to be false.

“I know people think no reasonable person would confess to something they didn’t do,” Ochoa says now.

He told the police he had committed the crime.

Wisconsin project takes case

But three years later, in 1999, Ochoa had a change of heart. He took classes that would result in two associates degrees.

But Bush’s people did nothing. Danziger had sustained injuries to his head while in prison and was housed in a mental institution. I was terrified that some crazy inmate would hurt him or do something to him.”

Finally, on Jan. 16, 2001, a judge released Ochoa, calling the evidence of his innocence “overwhelming.” Among those to greet Ochoa on his release was Jeanette Popp, DePriest’s mother, who has since crusaded to abolish the death penalty in Texas.

The only forensic evidence that linked Danziger to the crime was a pubic hair found near the blood in the restaurant that, when microscopically examined, was consistent with Danziger’s pubic hair. But I haven’t lost faith in myself. Once he was assigned to prison, he kept to himself. I’d given up on the world. He began to experience the college life he’d always hoped for.

Although there was no evidence linking him to the crime, which occurred in the early morning hours of October 24, 1988, police told him they knew he was guilty.