On Tuesday, November 4th, Judge Sam Medrano ruled on Daniel’s motion to suppress his confession at his trial. He confirmed what we’ve known all along: Daniel’s confession was illegally obtained and is therefore inadmissible. His ruling is devastating to the state’s case and a true indictment on the conduct of investigating officers, most notably Detective Alfonso Marquez. In fact, their actions laid out in the findings are textbook on how to extract a false confession from an over-matched juvenile. Beyond failing to follow even basic procedure, he isolated Daniel, lied to him, threatened him with assault, being left in the desert where nobody would find him, a lifetime of sexual assault, and even death. Read Judge Medrano’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for yourself and see if you don’t become outraged.
We are hopeful that DA Esparza will recognize that without this error-filled ‘confession’ he has no case, drop the case, and put an end to this 20+ year nightmare for Daniel once and for all.