Law project may free inmate

The UW Law School’s Innocence Project has attracted national attention for the efforts of clinical professors John Pray and Keith Findley and three students to secure the release of an imprisoned Texas murder convict.

The inmate, Chris Ochoa, has been in prison for since 1988 for a homicide and sexual assault that are now known to have been committed by another man.

Ochoa confessed to the crimes he was accused of because of a series of interrogations now deemed highly improper. To spare himself the death penalty, he said he committed the crime along with his roommate, Richard Danziger. Ochoa was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

Eight years after Ochoa’s conviction, another man, Achim Marino, came forward and confessed he was responsible for the murder and sexual assault. He said that he had been “born again,” and could no longer live with the knowledge that he had committed the crimes.

Marino also says that he was the sole person responsible — that he did not know who Ochoa or Danziger were. DNA tests indicate that Marino was the murderer and rapist. DNA tests exclude Ochoa and Danziger. Ochoa has no prior criminal record.

The Innocence Project has been working on this case for 18 months, and Findley and Pray hope a positive outcome is in sight, with a hearing on the motion for release expected to take place during week of the Dec. 18 in Austin.

Findley, Pray and students who have been working on the case will be present, as will national news organizations.