Murder suspect claims official misconduct

Molly Ball

Monday, Oct. 25, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

The lawyer for the man who is accused of murder for allegedly running over his wife at a car wash is accusing police and prosecutors of misconduct in a court motion filed last week.

Attorney Richard Schonfeld says police mishandled witnesses and evidence as they pursued 54-year-old Albert Cota, who allegedly abandoned his dead wife, 78-year-old Hiroko Cota, at a self-serve car wash on Oct. 2.

In the motion requesting that the case be dismissed because of the alleged misconduct, Schonfeld claims that homicide detectives pursued and intimidated Cota's ex-wife, a witness in the case.

Even though the ex-wife and her lawyer had made it clear that she would not cooperate with the detectives, the officers continued to contact her without informing her lawyer, the motion states.

On Oct. 14 Metro Police obtained a search warrant for the ex-wife's home and arrested her on a charge of possession of a credit card without the cardholder's consent.

The homicide detective told the woman, "This didn't have to be like this if you had just interviewed with us," the motion alleges. She was then taken to a police substation, where the detective told her, "If you want to cooperate this is your last chance," the motion states.

Prosecutors have not yet responded to the allegations in Schonfeld's motion. Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle is to rule on the misconduct charge on Dec. 2.