Charges dismissed against pair accused of killing football player

Earlier this month, Pima County Superior Court Judge Howard Hantman threw out 20-year-old Juan Jose "JJ" Olivares's confession, saying gang detectives wrongfully coerced Olivares into giving them statements after he had invoked his right to remain silent, court records show.

The judge dismissed the case without prejudice on March 14. Through a spokeswoman, prosecutors said they are working to refile charges.

Nicholas Lee Arnold, 20, and two fellow students from Western New Mexico University were shot at while in a car at a fast-food restaurant near West St. Mary's Road and North Westmoreland Avenue on Feb. 6, 2005. More than 15 bullets hit the car. Arnold died at the scene. His friends survived.

Arnold was attending college on a football scholarship and was studying criminal justice in the hope of becoming a juvenile-probation officer.

In April, police accused Olivares and Mark A. Romero, 20, of the drive-by shooting.

When detectives were questioning Olivares about the shooting, he first said he wasn't there but then admitted to owning the SKS rifle involved and to driving the car that was used.

But Olivares invoked his right to remain silent nine times during questioning, his defense attorneys wrote in a motion to have the statements suppressed. Detectives pressured him into changing his mind about remaining silent, the attorneys said.

Olivares was handcuffed to a table in a TPD questioning cell and was subjected to insults, threats and accusations of murder by the detectives.

Detective Jennifer Whitfield, who had been awake more than 24 hours and was suffering from a migraine, told the defendant she was bringing him "good news," that he'd "finally reached the big time," and he was going to jail.

Olivares, who detectives say is affiliated with the Hollywood gang, said he didn't kill anyone.

"I'm going to give you the opportunity tonight to talk to us, you know, explain, you know, offer some kind of explanation, you know, because things are not always black and white," Whitfield told him.

"They're not gonna believe you against an all-star football player on a scholarship and his friends in a car," one of the detectives said. It was unclear from a transcript which detective it was.

The detectives — Whitfield, Detective Michael Carroll and Sgt. Judy Altieri, who heads the gang investigation unit — each told Olivares his statements could affect his situation, possibly confusing the meaning of his Miranda rights, the defense attorneys said.

According to the law, if the defendant wants to remain silent, questioning must end.

Olivares changed his mind about talking when a patrol officer arrived to take him to jail, court records show. He asked to speak to the detectives again.

Prosecutors in their motion said Olivares waived his right to silence when he made that request, and that he said he understood his rights when they were read to him.

A videotape shows Olivares alone in the cell, at times sobbing, hitting his head on a wall and asking for his mother, attorneys said.

"The video evidence shows the detectives ran roughshod over defendant's invocation of his right to silence," wrote defense attorney Jose Robles.

On March 6, the judge found Olivares had not waived his right to remain silent and threw out statements the defendant made during questioning. The case was dismissed about a week later.

Olivares had been held on first-degree murder, aggravated assault and attempted-first-degree murder charges for nearly a year before the charges were dropped, his attorneys said. Romero also was held for nearly a year on the murder charges.

A police spokesman said detectives have not ruled out further investigation, future arrests and presenting the case again. Department officials would not address the methods the detectives used.

Meanwhile, the victim's family is hoping for a tip that could help them find justice.

"I just wish that the public, anybody that knows anything, would help them. I mean, this could have happened to anyone in Tucson. I guess I just want people to put themselves in our position," said Arnold's mother, Candy Arnold, 48.

"To know what happened and hold it inside and not let somebody know, it's just wrong," she said. "Please step up and be a man or a woman and let the police know. Don't let his life be in vain."

The decision angered Arnold's former coach and colleagues.

"It's so senseless that it's unbelievable," coach Charles Wade said.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME, the anonymous tip line of the Pima County Attorney's Office.