Jesse James found not guilty of murder

Jesse James Ochoa

Four hours and fourteen minutes was the time it took a jury to find twenty-two year old Jesse James Ochoa not guilty of Murder. Ochoa was also initially charged with Attempted Murder and Robbery but he was only tried for murder on indictment. The case relates to an incident back on June sixteenth, 2008, when three men allegedly pulled over a truck that was occupied by Emilio Gomez and Cornelius Schmidt who were transporting a bulldozer.  One of the men pretended to be a cop and told the men they would take them to the Belmopan Police Station. Instead Gomez and Schmidt were taken to a dirt road off the Coastal Highway and Schmidt was shot three times while Gomez was tortured, strangled with his belt and left hanging from a tree. Ochoa’s attorney made a no case submission last Thursday, arguing that there was no evidence that his client knew that the other two men intended to kill Gomez and Schmidt. That was rejected and Ochoa had to face the jury. Dean Lindo, attorney for Ochoa told us more.

Dean Lindo, Attorney for Jesse James Ochoa

dean lindo

“Gomez ended up dead; strangled and Schmidt very badly wounded. He was shot at point blank range in fact but he managed somehow to survive and he gave evidence at the court. Interestingly, at the court, he was not an eyewitness even though he was there because he said that when he got shot he fell down and he ran limping and so on. So he wasn’t able to see the murder so that they didn’t have any eyewitness as such. So that was part of the problem that they faced throughout. I have always believed that my man was not guilty. You see, first of all, he was not at the scene of the murder. This was established on all sides. Now you can’t be guilty of participating; what they call a joint enterprise—and the crown did raise that issue—but he could be found guilty even though he wasn’t present but you would have to establish that there was an enterprise; there was an agreement. We felt that the evidence that the crown would produce was too tenuous. So you have to link him with the murder and I would think that the jury decided that they couldn’t quite link it and he has to have the benefit of the doubt.

We felt that the prosecution was pressing a little bit hard and far because I myself think that you would have to stretch your imagination a good ways to really say that he was aiding and abetting as it were, giving assistance and encouragement in a situation where he has no part. He was left there. There’s no question about that. So I always believed and still believe that he is not guilty.”

Juan Aldana and Wesley Emmanuel were charged along with Ochoa. Aldan was never arrested and Emmanuel’s case ended in a nolle prosequi. He has, however, been re-indicted for the Murder.