Man accused of assault is innocent, says lawyer

TUCSON, AZ — The attorney for the man charged with aggravated assault in the death of 22-year-old Zahriya Moreno says his client is innocent and should not be retried in the case.

On Tuesday, the Pima County District Attorney dropped charges against Angel Olivas, but said it was to allow for further investigation that could lead to new charges.

Chris Scileppi, the attorney for the man charged with aggravated assault in Moreno's death, says his client is innocent, but the community has already decided he is guilty. He says there is more to this case than the public knows, and that part will prevent charges from being brought against Olivas again.

After an incident involving her boyfriend Olivas, Moreno's life support was withdrawn and she became an organ donor.

He said they argued, he drove off, she jumped onto the trunk of his car and fell off.

According to investigators, Olivas said he started driving slowly at about 10 to 15 miles per hour.

Instead of calling 911, he took her to a fire station for treatment.

At the fire station, firefighters explained to investigators that the young woman's injuries were not related to the dirt and asphalt that one would expect to encounter in a fall on the street.

Now the Pima County District Attorney's Office has dropped the aggravated assault charges against Oilvas, citing a desire to gain time for further investigations.

The information we have comes from the sheriff's reports, which also include deputies' accounts of what Olivas told them. However, Olivas' attorney says his client told him more than what was in the reports, but he is not authorized to release details at this time.

“And I will not violate my client's confidentiality. However, we believe we have a clear picture of what happened that night because Mr. Olivas is the only other person currently alive.”

Sheriff's detectives have been searching for electronic witnesses. They recovered electronic devices from Olivas' car that may have recorded how the car was driven that night, including whether Olivas accelerated suddenly or slammed on the brakes.

There are also medical details about Moreno's injuries that were omitted from publicly available reports.

But Scileppi says the district attorney's decision to drop the aggravated assault charge shows prosecutors knew they had a weak case that they needed to strengthen, and he believes they will never succeed.