Opinion ID: 2637824
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant's statements during the first recorded interrogation

Text: The following day, on December 5, 1996, the police began to suspect that defendant was also involved in the assaults against Maria M. and Laura Z., and the murder of Sophia Torres. Santa Maria Police Detective Gregory Carroll had been assigned to the investigation of Sophia's murder along with his partner, Detective Mike Aguillon. On the morning of December 5, 1996, the detectives thought they might be able to determine whether defendant was involved with Sophia's murder by comparing defendant's voice with the recording of the man who made the 911 call shortly after the murder. Earlier that morning, they had played the 911 recording to defendant's probation officers, who believed the recording matched defendant's voice. [4] With a tape recorder running, the detectives introduced themselves to defendant and asked him a few questions about the assault on Sabrina P. the night before. Defendant again denied assaulting Sabrina and repeated his claim that he was at the mall to meet his cousin. The detectives then took a break, excused themselves from the interrogation room, and compared the taped portion of the conversation with the 911 tape. Believing that defendant's voice matched that of the 911 caller, the detectives returned to the interrogation room and began to question defendant about Sophia's murder. Defendant initially denied being the 911 caller, but then admitted making the call after Detective Carroll told defendant that both his probation officers had identified the caller's voice as his. Defendant claimed he had gone to meet Sophia at Oakley Park to buy crank from her, but, when he arrived, he saw two Black women chasing Sophia through the park and hitting her. He claimed he observed this from the street and that he also saw a man in a little beat up car parked on the street. Defendant told the detectives that he did not go into the park, but just kept walking. He said he was wearing a white T-shirt, white pants, and a white baseball cap. He claimed he went home, but then decided Sophia needed help, and so he walked to a pay phone to make the 911 call. He told the detectives that he did not want to identify himself on the 911 call because he was high on crank and did not want to get arrested. Defendant claimed that when he last saw Sophia, she was being chased from the playground area and into the baseball field. But when Detective Carroll asked defendant why he told the 911 operator that Sophia was being attacked at the snackbar, defendant hesitated and said, I just wanted somebody to go out there quick. He denied killing or hitting Sophia, but said he would be unable to identify the two Black women. Defendant initially said he had bought crank from Sophia before, but after Detective Carroll explained that Sophia was a semi-transient and that nothing indicated that she was a drug dealer, defendant claimed that he had met her for the first time that night and was going to the park to buy crank from her for the first time as well. Defendant said he had met her earlier that night at the Tres Amigos bar at La Joya Plaza. After Detective Carroll pointed out defendant's inconsistent statements about buying crank from Sophia, explained that she could not have been a drug dealer, and explained that it was not possible for defendant to have seen Sophia in the pitch-black park from the street, defendant admitted his story did not make sense. The detectives encouraged him to think about it, and ended the interrogation.