Chris Ochoa: A True Story of a False Confession

In the book True Stories of False Confessions, Rob Warden and Steve Drizin of the Center on Wrongful Convictions present 39 compelling accounts of false confessions.

The royalties from the book will go to the Center on Wrongful Convictions. Buy it today: http://www.amazon.com/True-Stories-False-Confessions-Warden/dp/0810126036/ref...

One of the stories you will find in the book is about Chris Ochoa's false confession. In 1988, Chris was 20 years old and living in Austin, Texas, when he was picked up by local police.They wanted to talk with him about the murder and rape of Nancy DePriest. He knew nothing about the crime. After two days of interrogation, he signed a confession and was soon convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

In 2001, Ochoa was exonerated based on DNA evidence. Since his exoneration, Chris has been a tireless advocate for criminal justice reform. In 2006, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Video by John Maki
Music by Rob Keith

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• False Confessions
• Chris Ochoa
• exoneration

[johncconnelly]

Fuck the Police!  When the war starts, they'll be the first to go!

[veee4vendetta]

This can't happen without cops. The cop extermination business looks like it could be lucrative while making the world a better place.

[billbb46]

How can this arise? If cops and prosecutors really wanted to catch the bad guys, they'd be carefully questioning a suspect to eliminate everyone but the guilty. They must not care at all about getting the real bad guy. It's like a sadistic streak -- jump on someone and ruin their lives, innocent or guilty.

There are good policemen and prosecutors but there's enough bad ones that I end up suspicious of the lot, especially given the fact that they try to protect even the worst offenders.

[anon110011]

@Christopher711 I took it to mean he believes the police knew exactly what buttons to press in order to get a confession. Not many people would think the police are trying to get a confession from them if they actually knew they were innocent.

The cops sized him up, they figured out exactly how to push him far enough so he'd confess. Unfortunately they pushed him far enough to confess to a crime of which he was innocent.

[janderson65]

The police department is where our rights start or finish. This is why innocent people need lawyers!

[Gunney3042]

btw when the real perp confesses, from his prison cell, he gives corroborating evidence...ie..the gun used and DNA......and the cops still don't believe him.....

[Gunney3042]

This guy is a moron....he confesses and also includes his friend? Ruins his friends life who was almost killed in prison and now has serious brain injury.

That said, the cops are bigger morons. How do you get a person to confess but not be able to corroborate one part of the statement? Any seasoned investigator would know he was lying.

Also seems the State of Texas leads in false confessions...some really bad police work.

[didleybopp]

@Christopher711 - yeah I was confused by that at first too but I watched it a couple times and I'm pretty sure that's what he meant.

[Christopher711]

When you say they knew what they were doing do you mean they knew you were innocent?

[redbrest]

COPS! ANY THING FOR A BUST