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Posted on 04/15/2003 4:08:51 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Dallas man found guilty of killing family members
04/16/2003
Jurors deliberated less than 10 minutes Tuesday afternoon before finding a Dallas man guilty of killing his wife, two young daughters and two in-laws last summer.
The punishment phase of Abel Ochoa’s trial begins Wednesday as jurors consider whether to sentence the 30-year-old unemployed truck driver to life in prison or death by injection.
Concluding two days of testimony in the guilt-innocence portion of the trial, prosecutor Howard Blackmon was allotted 20 minutes to sum up the case against Mr. Ochoa. He took just 70 seconds.
“I’m not going to belabor the obvious - he’s guilty from the evidence you heard,” Mr. Blackmon told the jury of five women and seven men.
Defense attorneys Steve Miller and Michael Byck presented no witnesses during the trial’s first phase. During opening arguments Monday, they suggested that perhaps an unknown foreign substance was mixed into the drugs that their client ingested, affecting his behavior. They also criticized Dallas police for not preserving the evidence.
In a confession to police shortly after he was apprehended in August 2002, Mr. Ochoa said he was high on crack cocaine the Sunday afternoon that he shot his family as they visited at his central Oak Cliff home in the 2300 block of Salerno Drive.
In the statement read to jurors Tuesday, Mr. Ochoa said the family went to church together. Afterward, he said he persuaded his wife to give him $10 for a “dime bag” of crack.
“At first she didn’t want to give it to me, but I talked her into it,” he wrote in the statement, adding that he had his wife and two daughters wait outside a drug house while he made his purchase.
Mr. Ochoa said the shooting began because he wanted more crack.
“My body started wanting more crack,” he said. “I knew if I asked my wife for more money, she wouldn’t let me have it. I knew she’d argue with me about the money, just like we had in the past.”
Instead, Mr. Ochoa got his 9mm semiautomatic handgun from a closet. “The gun was already loaded, and I walked into the living room where my family was. I started shooting while they were all sitting on the couch … I don’t remember who I shot first. I ran out of bullets.”
Mr. Ochoa returned to his bedroom to reload, then found his daughter, Crystal, trying to run away. “I chased after her, and I shot her,” he told police.
Killed that day were Mr. Ochoa’s wife, Cecilia, 32; the couple’s two daughters, Crystal, 7, and Anahi, 9 months; Ms. Ochoa’s sister, 20-year-old Jackie Saleh; and Ms. Ochoa’s father, 56-year-old Bartolo Alvizo.
Mr. Byck said in his closing statement that he would provide jurors with “an explanation” for the slayings when testimony continues Wednesday.
“We owe you an explanation,” he said. “You will have an explanation.”
E-mail rtharp@dallasnews.com
This guy committed a heinous murder of FIVE family members. I have a feeling the jury won't be too sympathetic and will likely deal out a DP tomorrow.
“My body started wanting more crack,” he said. “I knew if I asked my wife for more money, she wouldn’t let me have it. I knew she’d argue with me about the money, just like we had in the past.”
Instead, Mr. Ochoa got his 9mm semiautomatic handgun from a closet. “The gun was already loaded, and I walked into the living room where my family was. I started shooting while they were all sitting on the couch … I don’t remember who I shot first. I ran out of bullets.”
Mr. Ochoa returned to his bedroom to reload, then found his daughter, Crystal, trying to run away. “I chased after her, and I shot her,” he told police.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Yep ! I bet the jury doesn't take long to put him in the DP queue . . .
“My body started wanting more crack,” he said. “I knew if I asked my wife for more money, she wouldn’t let me have it. I knew she’d argue with me about the money, just like we had in the past.”
Another Libertarian.
Looks like the sentencing continues this week . . .
Psychiatrist testifies that man who shot 5 was in cocaine delirium
04/18/2003
A psychiatrist testified Thursday that Abel Ochoa of Dallas killed five family members during a drug-induced delirium but would not pose a future threat to society.
"What happened on Aug. 4 was as a result of his cocaine addiction that triggered events that were beyond his control," said Dr. Edgar Nace, a psychiatrist who specializes in drug abuse.
Mr. Ochoa, 30, was convicted Tuesday of capital murder in the killings of his wife, Cecilia Ochoa, 32, and 7-year-old daughter, Crystal, last summer. Also killed in the family's Oak Cliff home were the couple's 9-month-old daughter, Anahi; Ms. Ochoa's sister, 20-year-old Jackie Saleh; and Ms. Ochoa's father, 56-year-old Bartolo Alvizo.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The punishment phase in Mr. Ochoa's trial continues Friday and is expected to finish next week. [Week of 4-21-2003]
Testimony this week included threats that Mr. Ochoa had made against his wife. But Dr. Nace, who examined Mr. Ochoa twice after the killings, said that did not mean that Mr. Ochoa would be a continuing threat.
"I found nothing in his background that shows he has a pattern of violence," Dr. Nace said.
In a confession to police shortly after he was apprehended in August 2002, Mr. Ochoa said he was high on crack cocaine the Sunday afternoon that he shot his family as they visited at his central Oak Cliff home in the 2300 block of Salerno Drive.
In the statement, which was read to jurors Tuesday, Mr. Ochoa said the family went to church together. Afterward, he said, he persuaded his wife to give him $10 for a "dime bag" of crack. Mr. Ochoa said the shooting began because he wanted more crack.
Mr. Ochoa got his 9mm semiautomatic handgun from a closet, walked into the living room and began shooting.
"I started shooting while they were all sitting on the couch," his statement said. "I don't remember who I shot first. I ran out of bullets."
Mr. Ochoa returned to his bedroom to reload, then found his daughter Crystal trying to run away. "I chased after her, and I shot her," he told police.
Another of Ms. Ochoa's sisters, Alma Alvizo, 29, was seriously injured.
"I just keep thinking of what he did to me," Ms. Alvizo said, tears welling in her eyes. "My kids, they see me cry a lot. There doesn't go a day that I don't think about my family."
E-mail imccann@dallasnews.com
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