One very important quality all District Attorneys must possess in order to properly wield their power, is the ability to be blind as to who is in front of them to the exent that they do not do favors for their friends or be vidictive toward their enemies--as tempting as it may be. By law, a prosecutor must seek justice and nothing else, not even convictions. As we all have seen for many, many years, Jaime Esparza has wrongly and corruptly used his power to cut his friends loose, i.e. Former Mayor Joe Wardy (loaded gun at the airport case), Nicolas Rodriguez-son of County Attorney Jose Rodriguez (felony possession of marihuana case), Dick Poe, Jr. (DWI), Police Officers Albert Machorro, Jr.-son of Esparza's investigator, and Jose Garcia (sexual assault), former police officers Luis Nava/Amato (sexual assault of a child), former El Paso Times reporter and now reporter for the Newspaper Tree, Charles DAVID Crowder (let go on his second DWI), Judge elect of the 65th District Court and current assistant county Attorney Yahara Lisa Gutierrez (DWI), Alberto Ocegueda--brother of his personal, over-paid, high price secretary, Amy Lujan, (aggravated sexual assault of a child) and the list goes on and on and on.
Esparza also has a reputation for incarcerating and prosecuting the innocent whom he perceives to have "gotten in his way." Esparza has used his power wrongly to go after George DeAngelis-former deputy police chief and former police officer Cerjio Martinez (they blew the whistle on possible drug cartel infiltration at the police department and Esparza indicted them-see earlier blogs), Nancy Hollebeke (She accused two cops of raping her, one of them the son of Esparza's employee, Albert Machorro Sr. and Esparza had her thrown in jail). Esparza was on the radio the day after the election, March 5, 2008, saying he was coming after me for publishing his best friend's arrest records. That would be the records of alleged child molestor Alberto Ocegueda. Although Esparza has a lousy trial record, what he does have is an impeccable record for being the biggest bully on the block.
Sometime within the last month, a lawyer friend of Stuart Leeds and mine had an appointment to meet with Esparza over a case. Our friend wanted to ask Esparza to dismiss a case he felt Esparza could not prove. Stuart Leeds happened to be in front of the DA's office when our friend was also there waiting for his appointment. The two were chatting about a hearing when Esparza came out to meet with our friend. Stuart left. Our friend reports that Esparza told him, "Interesting company you keep (referring to Stuart)."--Our friend then met with Esparza and tried to show him the paper work on his case but Esparza seemed distracted and unable to focus. Our friend offered to write his arguments and points of law up to make it simple for Esparza. Esparza told him not to bother as he would not dismiss the case. Right after telling our friend he would not dismiss his case, Esparza again said, "Interesting company you keep."
What is it to Esparza who someone's friends are? Even Richard Nixon learned the hard way, keeping an enemies list did him no good.
It is obvious that Esparza was not going to consider the merits of our friend's case because now he knows he's our friend. Yet again Esparza does the wrong thing. What is also interesting is that Esparza is so nervous these days about the Ocegeuda matter and the fact that it has mushroomed into a scandal so big it has reached the desk of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Justice Jefferson, as well as the Attorney General's White Collar Crime Unit in Austin as well as US Attorney Johnny Sutton's desk that he can't control his mouth or mask any longer his hatred of Stuart and me. We are simply not going away or letting up. The undoing of Ocegueda's illegal expunction seems to have especially rattled him. I wonder why. By telling our friend what he did, Esparza is showing his paranoia and his extreme frustration. Esparza has fallen prey to his own nervousness and vindictiveness. He's coming unglued.
What our friend needs to learn is that Esparza prosecutes the innocent all day long and there is no use going to beg him for a dismissal because it will be all about who you are and who your client is, what you can do for him and the company you keep. It for sure won't be about the merits of the case. That's the last thing Esparza cares about. Stuart Leeds and I learned that lesson years ago on the Hollebeke case. My advice to my friend and other attorneys is to get up off your knees, go do your job, prepare, collect your paperwork, line up your witnesses, read the law, set your cases for one contested hearing after another, never show fear, be willing to make enemies and billy club Esparza and his cadre of like minded drones into the ground with plain old good aggressive lawyering. In other words, go be good defense attorneys. That's what we do and we have a great track record on representing our clients on cases filed by Esparza on everything from murder to rape to DWI. We never bother to go to Esparza's office.
The above is a true story.
Esparza also has a reputation for incarcerating and prosecuting the innocent whom he perceives to have "gotten in his way." Esparza has used his power wrongly to go after George DeAngelis-former deputy police chief and former police officer Cerjio Martinez (they blew the whistle on possible drug cartel infiltration at the police department and Esparza indicted them-see earlier blogs), Nancy Hollebeke (She accused two cops of raping her, one of them the son of Esparza's employee, Albert Machorro Sr. and Esparza had her thrown in jail). Esparza was on the radio the day after the election, March 5, 2008, saying he was coming after me for publishing his best friend's arrest records. That would be the records of alleged child molestor Alberto Ocegueda. Although Esparza has a lousy trial record, what he does have is an impeccable record for being the biggest bully on the block.
Sometime within the last month, a lawyer friend of Stuart Leeds and mine had an appointment to meet with Esparza over a case. Our friend wanted to ask Esparza to dismiss a case he felt Esparza could not prove. Stuart Leeds happened to be in front of the DA's office when our friend was also there waiting for his appointment. The two were chatting about a hearing when Esparza came out to meet with our friend. Stuart left. Our friend reports that Esparza told him, "Interesting company you keep (referring to Stuart)."--Our friend then met with Esparza and tried to show him the paper work on his case but Esparza seemed distracted and unable to focus. Our friend offered to write his arguments and points of law up to make it simple for Esparza. Esparza told him not to bother as he would not dismiss the case. Right after telling our friend he would not dismiss his case, Esparza again said, "Interesting company you keep."
What is it to Esparza who someone's friends are? Even Richard Nixon learned the hard way, keeping an enemies list did him no good.
It is obvious that Esparza was not going to consider the merits of our friend's case because now he knows he's our friend. Yet again Esparza does the wrong thing. What is also interesting is that Esparza is so nervous these days about the Ocegeuda matter and the fact that it has mushroomed into a scandal so big it has reached the desk of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Justice Jefferson, as well as the Attorney General's White Collar Crime Unit in Austin as well as US Attorney Johnny Sutton's desk that he can't control his mouth or mask any longer his hatred of Stuart and me. We are simply not going away or letting up. The undoing of Ocegueda's illegal expunction seems to have especially rattled him. I wonder why. By telling our friend what he did, Esparza is showing his paranoia and his extreme frustration. Esparza has fallen prey to his own nervousness and vindictiveness. He's coming unglued.
What our friend needs to learn is that Esparza prosecutes the innocent all day long and there is no use going to beg him for a dismissal because it will be all about who you are and who your client is, what you can do for him and the company you keep. It for sure won't be about the merits of the case. That's the last thing Esparza cares about. Stuart Leeds and I learned that lesson years ago on the Hollebeke case. My advice to my friend and other attorneys is to get up off your knees, go do your job, prepare, collect your paperwork, line up your witnesses, read the law, set your cases for one contested hearing after another, never show fear, be willing to make enemies and billy club Esparza and his cadre of like minded drones into the ground with plain old good aggressive lawyering. In other words, go be good defense attorneys. That's what we do and we have a great track record on representing our clients on cases filed by Esparza on everything from murder to rape to DWI. We never bother to go to Esparza's office.
The above is a true story.
on September 16, 2008, 11:59 am
The accounts in this blog are just shocking, the more I find out about what is going on. These people involved need to be inidicted, tried, and thrown in state prison, if the courts can get them to tell the truth and admit for illegal actions. I am sure most of our courts here are compromised, given the amount and level of corruption here. Probably, the FBI is compromised too, given their past scandals. It's like the prisoners are in charge of the prison.
These people have no shame and no scruples, if all these accounts are admitted in court.
What can citizens do besides spread the word about these "officials"?
Remember, George Stoltz is running against Wiles. He needs as much support as possible to win the sheriff election.
Reply to this comment