Razo Lawyer Says Others Committed 10 Robberies

The 10 holdups that former Harvard student Jose Luis Razo is accused of were committed by two or three different robbers, one of whom may be Razo’s younger brother, the defendant’s attorney said Monday during closing arguments of his trial.

Razo, 22, told police and newspaper reporters in 1987 that he committed the string of armed robberies of stores and fast-food restaurants during breaks from his studies at Harvard. But during his monthlong trial in Superior Court in Santa Ana, Razo has testified that Richard Longoria, a neighborhood friend with an extensive criminal record, actually committed the crimes and then told him the details.

State records, however, show that Longoria was in prison when three of the robberies were committed.

In an often-impassioned, three-hour address to the jury, Razo’s attorney, John D. Barnett, on Monday attempted to show how the evidence proved that there had to be at least two different robbers.

“We’ve got a 5-foot, 3-inch Hispanic, a 6-foot, 3-inch Hispanic, a Hispanic with a mustache, light-haired people and brown-haired people,” said Barnett, pointing out the various descriptions that the robbery victims gave either to police or on the witness stand. “The same person can’t be all this. Can’t be.”

Barnett said that, besides the fear of retribution, Razo had another reason why he could not name any other robbers except Longoria, even though that would have improved his chances for acquittal.

“The answer may be in blood,” Barnett said. “The threat of a long prison sentence cannot force him to mention his brother’s name.”

Several of Razo’s family members, friends and his parish priest were in the courtroom Monday, but his brother was not.

Barnett pointed out that Razo and his brother, Albert, look “remarkably” alike, and that Albert Razo has wavy hair--a characteristic cited by one robbery victim in describing the robber.

Last week, Barnett introduced into evidence a picture of Albert Razo, who is now 19. Razo’s psychology tutor at Harvard, Ellen Herbener, had testified that Razo once mentioned to her that he was concerned about his “little brother”--then about 16--committing crimes in the barrio.

In his own closing arguments, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ravinder Mehta scoffed at Razo’s new defense.

“Razo testified in court that there is only one robber,” Mehta said. “But the story Mr. Razo told you fell apart like a cheap suit . . . and now they’re scrambling to bring in other robbers.”

“There is no evidence whatsoever to consider that his brother committed” the robberies, Mehta declared.

Defense attorney Barnett, Mehta contended, had exaggerated the differences in victims’ descriptions of the robber, which had been made while they were still shaken by the crimes. In fact, Mehta said, all but one victim testified that Razo was about the same size as the man who robbed them.

Repeating an argument that has been the basis of the case against Razo since he was arrested almost two years ago, Mehta said that no one but the robber could have told police about the string of holdups in the detail that Razo did in July, 1987.

Razo provided police with dates, times, locations, amounts of money stolen and accurate, sequential accounts of most of the robberies, Mehta said. In telling police about the robbery of a Safeway market on Dec. 28, 1985, for example, Razo said that he hid in the bathroom until the store closed, and when he came out, he found a female employee doing some work near a clock, Mehta said. The employee said that the robbery began exactly that way.

During the trial, Razo testified that he was interested in Chicano criminal behavior, and, after coincidentally bumping into Longoria one night after the first robbery, Longoria would call him at Harvard and tell him about each crime.

Barnett argued Monday that Razo wanted to get “inside the mind” of barrio criminals because his own research at Harvard had shown there to be a dearth of good, first-hand studies about Latino crime.

While getting so close to what were both boyhood friends and subjects for his research, Razo delved into the schizophrenic-like world of the drug PCP (phencyclidine), and suffered a toxicologically induced psychotic breakdown in which he assumed the persona of the robbers, Barnett contended.

“Jose got the information (about the crimes) from other sources,” Barnett argued. “He wasn’t there . . . but in the midst of a dopamine (a brain chemical) storm, he became his subject. He became the savior of the world. He became the messenger of God.”

Barnett said Razo’s psychotic state at the time of his confession, along with the lack of physical evidence against him and the discrepancies in victims’ descriptions of the robbers, were enough to leave more than a reasonable doubt about Razo’s guilt in the jurors’ minds.

Mehta answered that Razo was probably faking psychosis when interviewed in jail by a forensic psychologist because he knew it might help his defense. And he pointed out to the jury that all of the robberies occurred during Harvard breaks.

Razo faces a possible prison sentence of 22 years on the 10 robbery counts. Jury deliberation begins today.