Hector De Peña was the first lawyer assigned to defend Carlos ...

946 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [43.3:711
night club. Escobedo also asked for an autopsy of Wanda Lopez by the
County Medical Examiner, who collected evidence according to
Escobedo’s instructions.
Over the next few days, Escobedo ordered officers to get
written statements and evidence from witnesses Baker, Aguirre, John
and Julie Arsuaga, police dispatcher Jesse Escochea, Esther Barrera
(who first spotted a man under her pick-up truck and watched him
run in the direction of the truck where DeLuna was found), and
Armando Garcia (whose house was on a bee-line between the trucks
and found DeLuna’s shirt and shoes in his yard).
Escobedo also collected written reports from police officers
involved in the manhunt and arrest. There was Fowler, who was first
on the scene, and also Mejia, who was second and handled the
witnesses and BOLOs. Then there were Mylett and Constable Ruben
Rivera who helped take DeLuna into custody, and Schauer who led
the arrest and drove DeLuna to the gas station, witnessed the showup
identifications, and found $149 rolled up in the suspect’s pocket.
Last, there was a report from Infante, who photographed the crime
scene and helped with the investigation there.
On Monday, February 7, 1983, Escobedo spent the morning
reviewing the police file with prosecutor Jack Hunter, who evidently
discovered gaps in Escobedo’s work. Soon after the meeting, Escobedo
ordered subordinates to obtain elimination fingerprints from Wanda
Lopez’s body (which, however, they failed to do before Lopez was
buried). She also ordered all of the officers who took part in the arrest
and show-up identification to type up new, more detailed reports for
the prosecutors to use to make the case against DeLuna. Using all the
reports and witness statements as references, Escobedo prepared a
long memo for the prosecutors, summarizing all aspects of the case
against DeLuna.
Escobedo also let Gilbert Garcia, DeLuna’s parole officer,
interview the defendant in jail—an effort, possibly, to see if DeLuna
would confess to the crime. He didn’t.
The lead detective worked to get local and state scientists to
identify Wanda’s blood or fingerprints on Carlos’s clothes and on the
money found in his pocket.
At Escobedo’s direction, other officers retrieved the audiotape
that recorded 911 calls and police radio traffic. They preserved the
part of the tape beginning with Wanda’s call saying there was a man
in the store with a knife and ending when she screamed and her
attacker hung up her phone.