SAN DIEGO – A murder witness with schizophrenia was the reason a prosecutor allowed a man to plead guilty to manslaughter in a Mission Bay crime and receive only six years in prison.
Lee Eduardo Orozco, 36, was a suspect early on in the death of Eric Stephen Nelson, 51, a fisherman who was shoved onto sharp rocks in Mission Bay and died 25 days later in September 2023.
The only witness to the violence was a woman with sight in only one eye and who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to testimony from Orozco’s preliminary hearing last May.
Orozco’s attorney, Ryan Cannon, had asked the murder case be dismissed at the preliminary hearing, saying the witness takes medicine to treat schizophrenia and had previously taken methamphetamines.
Deputy District Attorney Shane Waller told San Diego Superior Court Judge Joan Weber that no case law says identification by someone with schizophrenia is unreliable. The witness had also identified Orozco’s vehicle as having a broken back window.
Waller told the judge the basic information relayed by the witness was descriptive and usable in court.
The witness testified in a meandering way that she saw Nelson being shoved onto rocks while he was fishing. Weber ordered Orozco to stand for a murder trial.
Waller said there was a problem that the witness could be declared mentally incompetent, and if that happened, she would be the only witness who saw the violence. He said it might be difficult to get a second-degree murder conviction from a jury, as she was the only witness who saw Nelson being shoved into the rocks.
Waller said he did not want Orozco to be acquitted if he proceeded without the witness.
Another witness was Nelson himself, as he identified pictures of Orozco shown to him in the hospital by a detective before he died 25 days after the attack.
Nelson drove himself to the hospital and was diagnosed with broken ribs, a broken jaw, and other problems. The cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Weber imposed six years last month after Orozco pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and dismissed a murder charge. She sentenced Orozco to three years for hurting a fellow inmate, but ordered that term to run concurrently.
The victim’s girlfriend, mother, and some cousins made statements in letters that were read in open court. Weber fined Orozco $1,755 and gave him credit for serving 74 days in jail.
Orozco was transferred to Wasco State Prison on Dec. 1, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Orozco apparently exchanged harsh words with Nelson before being beaten as Orozco said they “would have to finish” the argument, according to a detective.
