Two weeks ago, Stuart Leeds and I had a hearing in front of Judge Robin Darr of Midland. Judge Darr had ostensibly come down El Paso to consider whether or not Judge Barill should be recused from our cases in her court. The first thing Judge Darr did was release Judge Barill from having to testify. Barill not only did not come to her own recusal hearing, (we knew she would pull that so we had her subponaed. Cowards and bullies are easy to recognize after a while) Baarill did ask through her Court appointed attorney to be released from her subponae. That's right, she went to the council of judges and asked that she be provided with an attorney at taxpayer expense even though she is not indigent and owns very expensive properties in El Paso. -- Judge Darr did release Barill and then spent the next five hours siding with the District Attorney's office. One of Judge Darr's brilliant rulings was that we could not ask any questions about Ocegueda's expunction which was the very basis of our motion to recuse Barill. However, as the hearing dragged on, Judge Darr, being the legal scholar that she is, violated her own ruling on numerous occassions and by the end of the hearing she had Ocegueda's expunction file on the bench.
Judge Darr's own ruling left even herself befuddled.
We had Amy Lujan, the sister of alleged pedophile Alberto Ocegueda and over-paid, underworked personal secretary of Jaime Esparza, alleged pedophile Alberto Ocegeuda, District Attorney Jaime Eparza, Joe Spencer, attorney of Ocegueda and best friends of Esparza, Deanna Spencer, sister of Joe Spencer and top level employee of Esparza, District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez who was recently sentenced to 90 days in the can for contempt of court, Assist. County Attorney and Commissioner elect Annabelle Perez, etc. on the stand. The perjury that went on was astounding. Judge Darr was very confused and just could not grasp our points or notice the flood of lies coming from the stand and the mouths of our very finest. It was no surprise when Darr ruled against us. Her predetermined bias was evident from the beginning. She is no Judge Carl Pendergrass who is knowledgeable, scholarly, prepared, honest and in general, a class act. I told Judge Darr that by barring us from talking about the Ocegueda expunction. she was gutting our case and ignoring the pink elephant in the living room. Why would we be asking Barill to be recused if not for her rulings on the Ocegueda case? Duh...Darr just sat and looked even more confused. How convenient.
The good news is that it appears that Midland has the same caliber of judges that El Paso does. So we are not alone in our misery.
Now to make matters even worse, the District Attorney's office filed a motion to seal the record and transcript of the recusal hearing. This is unprecedented. A pillar of our democracy is open courts. Judge Barill, who couldn't make it to her own recusal hearing, will be the presiding judge to decide if the record of her recusal hearing should be sealed from public scrutiny. Nice! See how this works?
In fact, Judge Barill is utterly frantic to get this done. Here's what happened. The State filed its motion last Wendesday in the morning and Judge Barill's lap dog court coordinator Marissa Andrade literally called me and my office at least 10 times in less than two hours trying to set me for a hearing that MORNING, within two hours of the filing. I personally told her that I had other things calendered, that I had not even seen the motion and that two hours notice was not sufficient. That didn't stop her. She kept calling and harassing me all morning. She even sent out a radio messsage to all the courts looking for me. She then called at 11:00 a.m. to tell my office that everyone was in the courtroom and waiting for me. It was as though I had never told her I couldn't make it, that I had other obligations and that I demanded proper notice. I could never ask for a hearing within two hours of filing a motion. It is unheard of. What's the big rush Judge Barill? Have you heard of notice Judge Barill?
Tomorrow, our very own specimen of judicial brilliance, Judge Angie Barill, will be "deciding" on whether or not to make secret the record of her own recusal hearing. Now how do you think Judge Barill is going to rule? You get one guess. I have contacted the Diario to come as they have been following the story. Stinks doesn't it?
Judge Darr's own ruling left even herself befuddled.
We had Amy Lujan, the sister of alleged pedophile Alberto Ocegueda and over-paid, underworked personal secretary of Jaime Esparza, alleged pedophile Alberto Ocegeuda, District Attorney Jaime Eparza, Joe Spencer, attorney of Ocegueda and best friends of Esparza, Deanna Spencer, sister of Joe Spencer and top level employee of Esparza, District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez who was recently sentenced to 90 days in the can for contempt of court, Assist. County Attorney and Commissioner elect Annabelle Perez, etc. on the stand. The perjury that went on was astounding. Judge Darr was very confused and just could not grasp our points or notice the flood of lies coming from the stand and the mouths of our very finest. It was no surprise when Darr ruled against us. Her predetermined bias was evident from the beginning. She is no Judge Carl Pendergrass who is knowledgeable, scholarly, prepared, honest and in general, a class act. I told Judge Darr that by barring us from talking about the Ocegueda expunction. she was gutting our case and ignoring the pink elephant in the living room. Why would we be asking Barill to be recused if not for her rulings on the Ocegueda case? Duh...Darr just sat and looked even more confused. How convenient.
The good news is that it appears that Midland has the same caliber of judges that El Paso does. So we are not alone in our misery.
Now to make matters even worse, the District Attorney's office filed a motion to seal the record and transcript of the recusal hearing. This is unprecedented. A pillar of our democracy is open courts. Judge Barill, who couldn't make it to her own recusal hearing, will be the presiding judge to decide if the record of her recusal hearing should be sealed from public scrutiny. Nice! See how this works?
In fact, Judge Barill is utterly frantic to get this done. Here's what happened. The State filed its motion last Wendesday in the morning and Judge Barill's lap dog court coordinator Marissa Andrade literally called me and my office at least 10 times in less than two hours trying to set me for a hearing that MORNING, within two hours of the filing. I personally told her that I had other things calendered, that I had not even seen the motion and that two hours notice was not sufficient. That didn't stop her. She kept calling and harassing me all morning. She even sent out a radio messsage to all the courts looking for me. She then called at 11:00 a.m. to tell my office that everyone was in the courtroom and waiting for me. It was as though I had never told her I couldn't make it, that I had other obligations and that I demanded proper notice. I could never ask for a hearing within two hours of filing a motion. It is unheard of. What's the big rush Judge Barill? Have you heard of notice Judge Barill?
Tomorrow, our very own specimen of judicial brilliance, Judge Angie Barill, will be "deciding" on whether or not to make secret the record of her own recusal hearing. Now how do you think Judge Barill is going to rule? You get one guess. I have contacted the Diario to come as they have been following the story. Stinks doesn't it?
on October 21, 2008, 5:54 pm
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