On the Importance of Having an Honest District Attorney

Those who read this blog well know that the District Attorney (D.A.) is one of the most powerful people in a community. It is the D.A. who can indict, accuse someone of a crime, jail a person, not jail a person, control evidence, seek imprisonment or death, investigate, and set the standard of what will be tolerated and what will not be tolerated in a city. A bad D.A. sends one message and a good D.A. sends another. Here are some examples of what is wrong with where we live and the D.A.'s Office and what I think about it and how I plan to change things.

We recently watch in the news that the El Paso Police have gunned down and killed yet another mentally ill person in his home. This is not an isolated event in El Paso. Furthermore, the Police Department has been sued over and over and over again in recent memory for tragedies that have occurred due to lack of training. Some of these debacles have garnered national and international coverage, i.e. the Montwood police riots (national TV news networks), Mark Bittakis' arrest for laundry soap because the police thought it was cocaine (Associated Press reports), Brandon Moon's 17 year imprisonment for a rape he did not commit (Nationwide periodicles, as well as global, Taipei Times), the farce that was the investigation of Nancy Hollebeke's rape allegations against two cops (front page of the National New York Times section June 4, 2004),etc.--Despite the national shame of all this, in the latest incident, we see yet the same whitewashing pattern of conduct on the part of the local authorities. Chief Wiles has come out and said that his men acted correctly because the deceased used force. Then there is the usual silence from the employers of the cops in question, Mayor Cook and councilmen. Next we hear how District Attorney Jaime Esparza is going to "investigate." We see that his prior "investigations" into police shootings have not resulted in any meaningful changes. It doesn't help Esparza's "objectivity" that he has a signed contract to actually provide "legal services" to the police department and so they are in fact his clients. This DIMS contract has equated into millions of dollars over the years for the D.A. and his staff. Chief Wiles even appears with Esparza at city council to help get him this DIMS money not to mention the fact that they have been seen lunching together at a popular spot around town. So if Wiles says his men acted with honor in the shooting, what do you think Esparza is going to say? And how does any of this help us?

The father of the deceased, LTC Salguero, who has flown to El Paso from Germany, was in the news saying that law enforcement needs to learn how to address the mentally ill. And that he hopes this never happens again. As right on as he is, it is obvious he has no inkling as to what goes on in ths town. Should anyone tell him?

If watching that poor man on TV was not heart wrenching enough, the news then turned to another story. Officer Joseph Garcia, who is part of all things, the Sexual Assault Registration Task Force, was on TV talking about a police typo on a sex offender's address on the rolls. Instead of 920... it was 290... Who is Joseph Garcia? He is one of two Police Officers my client Nancy Hollebeke accused of sexually assaulting her while he was on duty. The other Officer was Albert Machorro, Jr. whose father did and does work at the D.A.'s office as an "investigator." The police department directed by Esparza's top dog Karen LaRose "investigated" the two officers. Somehow Garcia's and Machorro's clothing was not properly collected, fingernail scrapings were not taken, close up photos were not done of them, etc. The D.A. and the Police Department never properly or honestly investigated these officers for the sexual assault and they were never prosecuted for it. However, DA Esparza did throw Ms. Hollebeke in jail for having the temerity to report two officers for rape. (When DA Esparza and the COPS investigate cops the cops end up 911 heroes). However, I took the officers to a federal civil rights jury trial where the jury deliberated for more than 8 hours on the issue of rape even with a DA led investigation saying they were innocent. At one point the jury was hung and had to be given special instructions by the judge to either come to a decision or have to come back on Monday. It was Friday evening. The jury came back with no liability. It should be known that Officer Garcia had a very bad memory on the stand when it came to certain remarkable and damning moments of the night in question. Coincadentally, Officer Machorro had the same bad memory regarding the same moments. D.A. Esparza was subpoenaed to come to court to answer for his part in his so called "investigation" but he told the judge he couldn't make it because he was busy and judge Hudspeth told him that was quite alright and not to worry about the subpoenae. Now don't you try this yourself at home. It will have life altering consequences for you that will reach into the futures of your children. It is hard to pay for college tuitions from jail or with a criminal contempt conviction on your record.-- Anyway, you can just imagine what the tenor of that trial was like.

Now Officer Garcia is the sexual assault regsitration expert making TV appearances. Oh the irony of it all. And we have D.A. Esparza to thank for all of these things we see on TV because without his example and actions we would have none of it.

As D.A., I will expect proper training from law enforcement in all circumstances especially when discharging a weapon or making an arrest. It will also be my policy to ask an outide agency to investigate another law enforcement agency. For example, if someone accused police officers of rape, I will ask the Sheriff to investigate and vice versa. If there is nothing to hide, outside scrutiny should be welcomed. With an honest D.A., improper shootings of the citizenry will most likely be eliminated because those people will not continue on the force because the D.A. will not tolerate it. The good example starts from the top.