Narcotics Suspect Gets New Trial
A Los Angeles federal judge Monday ordered a new trial for Jesus Maria Ochoa, a Colombian arrested in the South Coast Plaza parking lot with two large, gift-wrapped boxes that officers said contained 44 pounds of cocaine.
“A new trial must be granted because of the prejudicial statements made” by members of the jury,” U. S. Dist. Judge Edward Rafeedie ruled. He said one juror’s wife apparently told her husband that Ochoa’s co-defendants had pleaded guilty to similar charges. The husband apparently relayed that information to another juror.
Although there were no co-defendants and the information was false, Rafeedie said the fact that it was repeated was damaging to Ochoa’s case.
Acting on information supplied to Santa Ana police officers, agents of the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Ochoa in the Sears parking lot in Costa Mesa on July 9. According to the indictment, Ochoa, 29, was arrested as he moved two gift-wrapped boxes from one car to another. The boxes were later found to contain 20 packages of cocaine, investigators said.
During his trial, Ochoa contended that the boxes were gifts for a friend’s mother and that he was in Southern California to buy Disneyland tickets.
Government prosecutors described Ochoa as “a sophisticated narcotics dealer” who is part of “a criminal organization,” according to court records.
Rafeedie scheduled a new trial for Feb. 4, 1986.
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