Razo Is Found Guilty in String of Robberies : Lies Doomed Defense of Ex-Harvard Man From La Habra

Jose Luis Razo Jr., who left a La Habra barrio to become a scholar and athlete at Harvard College, was found guilty Friday of six armed robberies committed during breaks from his studies.

An Orange County Superior Court jury also convicted the former Ivy Leaguer of attempting to escape from police following his arrest in July, 1987, but the jury found Razo not guilty of four other robberies.

The case gained national attention in 1987 because of its baffling complexities: Why would a young man who had battled the ethnic odds and seemed to have such a bright future suddenly become, in the words of his former attorney, “a con . . . an inmate, just another Mexican armed robber?”

In interviews after his arrest--and again during the trial last month--Razo told of how he felt alienated at Harvard and how no one there understood him. He talked about how he delved into the schizophrenic world of PCP to escape the guilt he felt for having left the barrio for the lofty surroundings of Cambridge.

“I’m a homeboy now,” Razo said in a July, 1987, jail interview just after his arrest. “At Harvard, I didn’t fit. . . . I was confused.”

In that interview, Razo said he committed about 15 robberies at stores and fast-food restaurants in Orange and Los Angeles counties, netting about $25,000. “I needed the money, man, and that was a way to get it,” he said.

Razo now faces a maximum sentence of 15 years and four months, and probably no less than 4 years, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ravinder Mehta, the prosecutor on the case. Sentencing and motions for a new trial are scheduled for Aug. 4.

“I’m going to ask for the maximum penalty because all the crimes were extremely aggravated,” Mehta said outside the courtroom, adding that he was “pleased” despite the mixed verdict. “I think the jurors did a good job.”

Razo, 22, showed no emotion while the verdicts were read in the Santa Ana courtroom. His mother and other family members who attended regularly during the monthlong trial were not present Friday. Two friends who did show up broke into tears and embraced after Razo’s bail was revoked and he was remanded to Orange County Jail.

Two Confessions Thrown Out

“I’m shocked,” said one of the girls, who declined to give her name but said she is a close family friend. “I know that he’s innocent. . . . There is no doubt in my mind.”

Of the four counts on which he was acquitted, two of his confessions were thrown out by a judge. In the third, Razo’s former roommate testified that he was at Harvard when the crime was committed, and in the fourth, the victim said Razo was not the man who robbed her.

Razo’s court-appointed attorney, John D. Barnett, said he intends to raise “substantial” legal and factual issues when he asks for a new trial in August.

“I think the verdict is inconsistent,” Barnett said. “You either believe that the confessions are true or not. . . . They acquitted him on counts where there were confessions, and they convicted him on counts where there were confessions.”

Jurors agreed that the confession to police was the single most important factor in convicting him on the six robberies.

Way He Confessed

“It was the way he confessed,” said juror Susan Kane. “He had such an excellent memory for details. We sat in court for weeks hearing this evidence, and we couldn’t remember it all the way he did. He couldn’t have that kind of memory in the confession unless he was there.”

The confession that Superior Court Judge Jean Rheinheimer allowed to be used as evidence included a robbery of a McDonald’s restaurant in La Habra on Feb. 1, 1987 and a Burger King in La Habra on April 5, 1987.

But jurors said testimony by Razo’s roommate, Neil Phillips and by Carmen Rodriguez, a former Burger King employee, created enough doubt for the not guilty verdicts on those two counts. Phillips testified that he and Razo played basketball in Cambridge the day of the McDonald’s robbery, while Rodriguez testified that Razo was not the man who robbed her.

“We all believed he was probably guilty on all the counts,” Kane said. “But we gave him the benefit of the doubt in those counts where there was some question.”

Razo’s confessions to the two other robberies of which he was acquitted were thrown out by Rheinheimer before the trial because they were made after Razo had requested an attorney but did not immediately get one.

‘Too Much Evidence’

The fact that Razo had attended Harvard, juror Dean Montanye said, was “something we considered. I think that none of us wanted to find him guilty. . . . But there was just too much evidence on most of the counts. And we couldn’t get his excellent memory out of our minds.”

Jurors also said Razo’s testimony worked against him once it was clear that he was lying. Razo testified that Richard Longoria, a neighborhood friend, had in fact committed all the robberies, but Longoria’s parole officer testified a few days later that he was in prison when three of the crimes were committed.

“Once it was proven that he perjured himself, that was pretty much it,” Montanye said.

Razo was arrested July 6, 1987, when he contacted La Habra police and told them that he had committed a string of armed robberies during breaks from Harvard the previous two years.

Until his arrest, Razo’s story was a classic American tale of an immigrant climbing the ladder to success. Razo, born in Mexico, was raised in modest surroundings, excelled as a student and athlete at demanding parochial schools and had taken on responsibility as a leader in the local Boys’ Club. He was offered scholarships by several of the country’s top colleges and chose Harvard, where he maintained above-average grades and earned the respect of his football teammates with his hard-nosed play at linebacker.

Razo’s roommates and teachers never knew, though, that there was more bothering the polite, handsome Latino from Southern California than the normal homesickness that afflicts a college student who has left the nest.

Interested in Story

Razo spent a total of 16 months in Orange County Jail awaiting trial before a Latino film maker interested in Razo’s story and a family friend were able to secure his release on $150,000 bail.

During the trial, Razo’s story changed. He said a neighborhood friend actually committed the robberies and then told him about the crimes in great detail. Razo completed a term paper during his sophomore year on Latino criminal behavior for a psychology course, and he said that getting close to the mind of the robber was helpful in his studies.

“I thought it’d give me insight into understanding the robber, the ‘whys’ behind his decision to rob,” Razo testified.

Defense attorney Barnett asserted in the trial that Razo confessed to the robberies during a psychotic breakdown fueled by PCP in which he actually believed that he was the robber.

But Razo’s story about a friend having committed all the robberies fell apart when state records showed that the man Razo named had been in prison when three of the crimes were committed. In his closing argument, defense attorney Barnett put forth a new theory: that there were in fact two or three different robbers. Barnett contended that Razo could not name all of them for fear of retribution--and because one of the robbers might well have been Razo’s younger brother, Albert.

Razo is still awaiting trial in Los Angeles County on three additional robberies.

RAZO CHRONOLOGY

With his conviction Friday on six counts of armed robbery, Jose Luis Razo Jr. of La Habra faces up to 15 years and 4 months in prison. This is how the case against him unfolded over the past four years:

June, 1985--Razo graduates from Servite High School in Anaheim. A defensive captain of the football team and an all-league linebacker his senior year, Razo does well academically and is recruited by several Ivy League colleges.

September, 1985--Razo begins his freshman year at Harvard College, the undergraduate division of Harvard University. He returns to Southern California during school breaks over the next two years.

Dec. 26, 1985--About $60 is taken from the Driftwood Dairy in La Habra by a bandit wearing a ski mask and brandishing a handgun. A Safeway in La Habra will be robbed of $2,600 by a person of the same description two days later. (Razo was found guilty on Friday of both robberies.)

July 3, 1986--A Taco Bell in La Habra is robbed of $1,600 by the Ski-Mask Bandit. A Smart & Final Iris Co. wholesale store will be robbed of about $1,000 20 days later and a Thrifty Drug & Discount Store, also in La Habra, will be robbed of $228 on Aug. 3. (Razo was also found guilty on Friday of these three robberies.)

September, 1986--Razo begins his sophomore year at Harvard.

Feb. 1, 1987--A McDonald’s Restaurant is robbed of $700 in La Habra by a bandit. A La Habra Burger King Restaurant will be robbed of about $930 on April 5. (Razo was found not guilty on Friday of these two robberies.)

June 9, 1987--A Carl’s Jr. Restaurant is robbed of $1,050 in Garden Grove by a suspect in a ski mask. The next day a McDonald’s in Anaheim will also be robbed of an undetermined amount of money. (Razo was also found not guilty on Friday of both these robberies.)

June 29, 1987--A McDonald’s is robbed of $1,000 by a person in a ski mask in Costa Mesa. (Razo was found guilty of this robbery.)

July 6, 1987--Razo calls La Habra police and tells them that he has information about a recent murder in Santa Ana. The police, who had long considered him a suspect in the series of ski-mask armed robberies, ask him to come down to the station. It is there that Razo is arrested after police said he confessed to some crimes. He is held at Orange County Jail on $150,000 bail.

July 7, 1987--After accompanying police on a search of his home, Razo turns to officers and says, “I’ll bet I can outrun you,” then sprints off, still handcuffed. Officers stop him three blocks away. (Razo was found guilty on Friday of attempting to escape.)

July 10, 1987--Razo tells a reporter for The Times Orange County Edition that he “did 15 robberies,” saying he stole the money to help his parents and friends and to pay for plane trips back and forth from Harvard.

July 15, 1987--Razo pleads not guilty to 10 counts of armed robbery and one count of attempted escape.

Nov. 13, 1987--After a month-long preliminary hearing, Razo is bound over for trial.

May 4, 1989--The trial begins.

June 9, 1989--A Superior Court jury finds Razo guilty of six counts of armed robbery and one count of attempted escape. He is found not guilty on four other counts of armed robbery.

Compiled by Kathie Bozanich Times staff writer Jerry Hicks contributed to this report.