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10/4/05 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
E. Hanover rape suspect may have fled the country
Despite absence, judge begins hearing to decide if he understood his rights

BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD

The same day a judge began hearing testimony on whether accused rapist Walter Morocho understood his right to remain silent, detectives on Monday discovered the illegal immigrant may have hopped a plane last week to flee to his native country of Ecuador.

When the 27-year-old construction worker failed to appear for trial on Monday, Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Falcone, sitting in Morristown, issued a warrant for Morocho's arrest and forfeited the $150,000 bail he posted on Jan. 31, 2004. Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood said detectives researching Morocho's whereabouts discovered Monday that a man with the same name and birth date boarded a flight to Ecuador on Friday.

How the Orange resident was able to board a flight -- if he did -- is a mystery because Morocho was ordered to surrender his passport when he was arrested.

Despite Morocho's absence, Falcone began a hearing to determine whether Morocho understood his legal rights and voluntarily waived them on Jan. 11, 2004, when he confessed to forcing his wife's friend to have sex with him in his SUV in East Hanover that day. If the judge decides Morocho did not understand his rights, the verbal and follow-up taped statement he gave detectives in Spanish could not be used against him in his sexual assault trial.

The hearing on the confession is supposed to resume today. Afterward, a trial could be held in Morocho's absence, but no decision has been made on that issue.

Defense lawyer Gustavo Garcia contends that Morocho -- who has a second-grade education, speaks virtually no English and has been in the United States about three years -- did not intellectually comprehend the consequences of talking to police and was intimidated by their interrogation.

"There has to be a full and complete understanding of your rights," Garcia said after the hearing. "This man is basically illiterate and had somebody in a position of authority reading his rights to him."

The case also highlights the difficulties that English-speaking police officers face in ensuring that non-English speaking suspects are aware of their constitutional rights to keep silent and request an attorney.

Shortly after the alleged assault, the victim, who also is in the country illegally, showed police the section of Mount Pleasant Avenue in East Hanover where she said Morocho tried to have intercourse with her after offering her a ride to her job at a Burger King. Morocho, who had just picked up his wife from work at the same Burger King, was spotted driving by and was stopped by township Lt. James Monaghan Jr.

Read in Spanish

Monaghan testified that he read Morocho his Miranda rights against self-incrimination. He said he read the rights in Spanish, though he is not bilingual, and the defense lawyer grilled Monaghan on his enunciation of words. Monaghan said he has read suspects their rights in Spanish hundreds of times during his 20-year career, though he is not fluent in the language.

Morris County Prosecutor's Office Detective Ted Cerra, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who is fluent in Spanish, conducted the interviews with Morocho in the presence of another East Hanover police officer, Lt. Brian Monaghan, who is James Monaghan's brother.

Cerra said that Morocho, after waiving his rights, said he picked up his wife's friend as she waited at a bus stop, pulled off the road in the township and tried to persuade her to hug, kiss and "make love"with him. The woman repeatedly resisted with words and pushes, and jumped out of the SUV at one point, Cerra recounted.

Morocho admitted pushing the woman back into the vehicle, holding her down, and pulling both their pants down. He estimated that he tried to have intercourse for about five minutes while she resisted. Cerra recounted that Morocho said he felt "really bad" afterward but warned the woman that if she told anyone, including her husband, that "someone might die."

Morocho described his anxiety after the attack: "He was pleading with God to help him because what he did was bad,"Cerra recounted Morocho telling him.