‘I Am So Very Sorry,’ Key Eyewitness Tells Carmona

A key witness whose testimony helped condemn a Costa Mesa teenager to 12 years behind bars on robbery charges told him in a letter that she’s “been crying since I found out you were sentenced.”

“I believe there is a very strong possibility I made a very horrible mistake,” Casey Becerra wrote in the letter that Arthur Carmona received in jail last week. “I don’t expect you or your family to ever forgive me. I don’t know that I can forgive myself.”

The letter is the latest twist in the controversial case, which Carmona supporters say is so plagued with questions that a new trial is required.

A jury convicted Carmona, 17, in October of robbing the restaurant and an Irvine juice bar during a three-day period in February 1998.

But since Carmona’s conviction, Becerra and two jurors have come forward expressing reservations about his trial. The jurors have said they felt pressured by other panelists to vote guilty even though they believed there was reasonable doubt. One juror went as far as to allege misconduct, saying some of them discussed the case outside the jury room and prodded her to change her initial not-guilty vote.

Becerra’s letter amplifies statements she’s already made questioning the way police handled the robbery investigation. She identified the teen as the gunman who robbed a Costa Mesa Denny’s restaurant where she worked. More recently, however, she said she was misled by authorities into pointing the finger at Carmona. In the letter, she said she had hoped he would get a new trial.

“I am so very sorry about what is happening to you,” she wrote.

The case against Carmona was largely built around eyewitness identifications. But those witnesses were unduly influenced by police investigators, Carmona’s supporters say.

Three witnesses were certain of their identifications only after police placed upon Carmona’s head a hat believed worn by the robber. Becerra has said police and prosecutors told her they had found “his” gun and backpack in the getaway truck. No physical evidence ever linked the truck, hat or gun to Carmona.

Prosecutors declined to comment on Becerra’s letter. But Deputy Dist. Atty. Jana Hoffman, who prosecuted the case, has said in the past that she feels confident about the outcome and that she does not recall telling Becerra about physical evidence being linked to Carmona.

A judge denied a motion for a new trial earlier this month. A new set of attorneys is preparing his appeal. But legal experts say it will be a long, uphill battle. Jury misconduct allegations are hard to prove, and an appeals panel can rule only on procedural mistakes made during the trial. That would exclude Becerra’s post-trial statements, including the letter.