← All Cases / Episode #254
The Case of Chris Ochoa
📻 Episode #254
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Apr 20, 2022
About This Episode
In 1988, Chris Ochoa and his roommate Richard Danziger both worked at different Pizza Huts locations in Austin, Texas, when a robbery, rape, and murder occurred at another location on October 24th. With no sign of forced entry, police focused on other Pizza Hut employees. An aggressive interrogation complete with lies about evidence and polygraph…
The Case
In 1988, Chris Ochoa and his roommate Richard Danziger both worked at different Pizza Huts locations in Austin, Texas, when a robbery, rape, and murder occurred at another location on October 24th. With no sign of forced entry, police focused on other Pizza Hut employees. An aggressive interrogation complete with lies about evidence and polygraph results, as well as threats of prison rape and the death penalty made Chris Ochoa's acquiescence a foregone conclusion. He made false statements uncorroborated by the physical evidence, implicating Richard and himself. Eventually, modern DNA testing supported the confession of the actual killer, but not before both men spent 12 years in prison.
https://law.wisc.edu/fjr/clinicals/ip/support.html
Sign the petition at: https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/stop-execution-of-innocent-melissa-lucio-texas/
If you live in Texas, call Cameron County DA Saenz to ask that Melissa's execution date be withdrawn: 956-300-3881
OR Call Governor Abbott to tell him that you support clemency for Melissa Lucio: 956-446-2866
Social Media Toolkit: https://innocenceproject.org/social-media-toolkit-stop-execution-melissa-lucio-texas/
In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:05:57“Speaker 1: your co defendant, Richard Danziger I'm talking about, of course, Speaker 1: where were you, guys? And when did you first hear Speaker 2: Well, me and Richard worked at different pizza huts when Speaker 2: the crime happened. So when that crime happened, Richard was Speaker 2: late for a shift at his pizza hut. So they”
00:22:06“Speaker 1: to testify against Danziger. Right you were convicted, as was Speaker 1: Danziger in February nineteen ninety and both of you were Speaker 1: sent to life in prison. Speaker 2: The moment to gab Will hit any sentencement. It came Speaker 2: crashing down. I was like, I wasn't shocked. First night”
00:39:02“Speaker 3: her daughter had not undergone the kinds of things that Speaker 3: had been coerced from that confession. And that's one reason Speaker 3: why Jeanette pop was such a strong ally of Chris Speaker 1: So, Chris, as we wind down the show here, is Speaker 1: there anything you want to ask our audience, anything they”
Listen to the Episode
🎧 Listen on Omny / the podcast's platforms
Resources & links from the episode:
Share this case, follow the organisations working on it, and support the podcast's fight for the innocent at lavaforgood.com.
← #253 Jason Flom on Melissa Lucio #255 Dieter Tejada →
Also on the podcast: #76 Doug DiLosa and Chris Pourciau on Amendment 2 · #129 False Confessions - Chris Tapp · #203 Chris Fabricant, Tucker Carrington and John Grisham on Eddie Lee Howard