Judge Voids Confession in Murder of Two Doctors

An Orange County judge on Tuesday threw out the confession of a woman charged with murdering two Huntington Beach doctors, saying detectives showed a “flagrant disregard” for her constitutional rights during interrogations.

Delivering a serious blow to the prosecution, Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey ruled that Orange County Sheriff’s investigators went too far when they implied that Adriana Vasco might not face murder charges if she cooperated with them.

Vasco, Dickey said, was a “vulnerable” Mexican immigrant in fear for her safety and that of her two children. Detectives played on that anxiety, he said, encouraging Vasco to believe she was in danger and that they could keep her family safe from her co-defendant only if she talked about the 1999 slayings.

“In a high-profile murder, I’m sure the deputies are under pressure to solve the case,” Dickey said, “but that does not justify passing on that pressure to a . . . possible suspect in the case.”

The ruling during a preliminary hearing eliminates key evidence against Vasco, who is charged in connection with what authorities call a contract killing gone awry along a lonely stretch of the Ortega Highway.

Authorities believe that Vasco and former boyfriend Dennis Godley helped Dr. Kenneth C. Stahl arrange the murder of his wife for about $30,000. But at the last moment, the shooter--who investigators believe was Godley--turned the gun on the doctor as well.

Sheriff’s officials said they were disappointed by Dickey’s ruling but stood by the two homicide detectives, who, they noted, won department commendations earlier this week for their work on other cases.

“Our investigators did an outstanding job,” said Sheriff Michael S. Carona in a written statement. “We conduct professional and hard-hitting investigations.”

Prosecutors declined to comment on the ruling but argued in court that Vasco voluntarily implicated herself in the killings during interviews while she served a jail sentence in Los Angeles County on minor traffic warrants.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Walt Schwarm contended that Vasco told deputies she was going to talk to them because she had read a biblical passage on the need to face punishment in order to win God’s forgiveness.

Taking the stand on Monday, Vasco admitted through heavy sobs that she made the comments. But she said she really cooperated because she believed investigators would in turn protect her family from Godley.

“It was a heavy burden for me . . . living in everyday fear of my life and my kids,” she said.

The contents of Vasco’s statements to detectives have never been made public and are sealed. But Vasco acknowledged during cross-examination that she told detectives she wished she had stopped Stahl from planning the murder of his wife.

‘A Desperate Situation’

Nevertheless, Dickey ruled that Vasco must have felt under intense pressure to cooperate when she made that statement and others. In previous interviews, the judge said, Sheriff’s homicide detectives had ignored her requests for an attorney and then jailed her on unrelated traffic warrants. Dickey added that Vasco was also led to believe she would not be charged as a co-conspirator if she cooperated.

By the time she decided to speak, Dickey said, Vasco was in “a desperate situation . . . in terms of how to get out [of jail] and how to protect her children.”

Friends of Vasco’s who attended Tuesday’s hearing welcomed the ruling with cautious optimism, saying they hoped she would soon be released.

“It’s good, but I just want the whole thing to be over,” said Greg Stewart, the father of one of Vasco’s children.

Prosecutors must now look ahead to April 11, when the preliminary hearing is scheduled to resume and Dickey is likely to decide whether Vasco should face a murder trial.

Prosecutors have subpoenaed Stewart as well as a newspaper reporter who talked to Vasco in jail. Godley is expected to be extradited from Virginia in the next few months.