New trial in case of woman killed in 1988

In brief opening statements for the jury that will consider the fate of accused murderer Pedro Miranda, his defense attorney told jurors that the man initially arrested and convicted of the crime was the one who did it.

“They got it right the first time,” said Vickie Hutchinson. Miguel Roman served 20 years in prison for the killing of 17-year-old Carmen Lopez, but he was exonerated by DNA evidence that led police to bring charges against Miranda.

Miranda, 53, is charged with murder, felony murder, first-degree
kidnapping and two counts of capital felony, although he does not face the possibility of the death penalty.

Hutchinson on Tuesday recounted the arrest and conviction of Roman for the Jan. 3, 1988 killing.

She noted that more than two dozen Hartford police officers, including 15 detectives and noted forensic investigator Dr. Henry Lee, investigated the crime.

“They carefully evaluated all the evidence they found and they
followed up on all the leads,” she said.

As to the DNA evidence the state now has, which indicates Miranda
committed the crime, Hutchinson said it “doesn’t show who killed
Carmen Lopez. It may show who was with her in the days before her death, but it doesn’t show who killed her.”

“Basically, nothing has changed. They got it right the first time.”

Prosecutor David Zagaja, in his opening statement, acknowledged Roman’s arrest and conviction for the slaying of Lopez, whom he was dating at the time.

Techniques used to analyze DNA evidence have improved since 1988, he said, and the analysis indicates Miranda is responsible for the crime, he said.

He also said there was a link to Lopez. Miranda’s girlfriend at the time, and the woman who is now his wife, is Lopez’s cousin.

The first witness who testified, retired Hartford Police Officer Albert
J. DiStefano, was the officer who discovered Lopez’s body on Jan. 5, 1988. He described for jurors Lopez’s body, which was face-down behind the couch in Lopez’s cousin’s apartment.

Lopez’s feet were bound, her hands were tied behind her back, a sock was stuffed in her mouth and an electrical cord was around her neck, DiStefano testified. She was wearing only pink underwear.

Lopez was the cousin of Miranda’s girlfriend, Norma Agosto, and was last seen at Agosto and Miranda’s apartment on Kensington Street on New Year’s Eve 1987.

Agosto told police at the time that Lopez left the party about 10 p.m.
with her boyfriend, Miguel Roman. Lopez was house-sitting for her
sister at 91 Nelton Court.

Agosto said that over the next few days, she and Miranda and other
family members went to Nelton Court looking for Lopez, but did not go into the apartment because it was locked.

On Jan 5, police entered the apartment and found Lopez’s nearly
naked body. Detectives found two ligatures around her neck, a piece of towel and an electrical cord that was tied to the back of the couch, suspending her head in the air. At the time, Lopez was nearly seven months pregnant.

A neighbor told police that she heard a scuffle on the evening of Jan. 3, but assumed it was the tenants.

Miranda was arrested in 1998 on charges that he kidnapped a
24-year-old woman, sexually assaulted her in his car and choked her.

The woman escaped from Miranda, and West Hartford police
subsequently arrested him. He was convicted on the charges and
sentenced to 57 months in prison and 10 years of probation, and was ordered to provide a DNA sample.

That sample in the state database matched DNA recovered from
Lopez’s body. At the time of Roman’s trial, the technology needed to
analyze minute quantities of DNA did not exist, prosecutor David Zagaja said when Roman was released. Zagaja is now prosecuting Miranda.

Miranda’s trial in Lopez’s death will be followed by trials in the killings of Rosa Valentin, who was 16 when she was killed in 1986, and Mayra Cruz, who was 13 when she was killed in 1987.

Valentin’s body was never found.

Hartford police detectives said they interviewed Miranda about all
three cases in the 1980s but never developed enough evidence to bring charges.