El Paso News » Justice & Reform

Feeds

108692 items (78003 unread) in 12 feeds

• El Paso Times (6371 unread)
• KFOXTV.com - Local News (8247 unread)
• Newspaper Tree (2350 unread)
• Justice & Reform (26 unread)
• Sunland Park Racetrack (50 unread)
• Cognent :: Newsroom (10 unread)

Sports (1214 unread)

• UTEP Sports Events & Scores (1214 unread)

BreakingNews (23496 unread)

• AP Top Headlines At 2:29 p.m. (5330 unread)
• MSNBC.com: Top MSNBC Headlines (18166 unread)

National (16719 unread)

• washingtonpost.com - A Section (16719 unread)

Mexico (13755 unread)

• La Jornada (13755 unread)

International (5765 unread)

• AP Top U.S. News At 1:36 p.m. (5765 unread)

Justice & Reform (10 unread)

• 

  Charlie Edgren, The El Paso Times and other Shady Types

  Posted: December 14th, 2008, 10:33am EST

  This week El Pasoans witnessed a particularly brutal attack on El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos once again from the ink droppings of Charlie Edgren, et. al., who sits on the editorial board of the El Paso Times.-Read on because I will tell you a true story from the mouth of a friend of Charlie Edgren about Charlie Edgren. For quite some time now, Charlie Edgren has been able to pass himself off as respectable, honest and as a "fiscal conservative." I am not really sure how he has achieved this. He has written editorials on how we need to tighten our belts and then he turns around and savages the few representatives we have who consistently oppose higher taxes. For example, is Edgren for the plan known as "Stealing of Private Land Downtown to be Developed by the Friends and Family Members of Joyce Wilson and City Rep Beto O'Rourke at Tax Payer Expense" or is he against it and therefore supports the lonely voices of Eddie Holguin, Melina Castro and Rachel Quintana? Because if Charlie Edgren, the respectable, the honest and the fiscal conservative is against the above plan to steal private land, why is he so hateful toward the three city reps just mentioned who are against the plan? Or does Edgren just tell his friends out of the side of his mouth that he is really for the wretched, overburdened taxpayer and against the plan but that he just PRETENDS to be otherwise in print because he writes what the powers that be tell him to write so that he can keep his pitiful job at his dying and decaying newspaper because he is that hard up? What I am about to tell you is a true story. Last year, around this time, a friend of Charlie Edgren's called my friend and supporter Stuart Leeds and asked Stuart if he could arrange a lunch so that the three of us could get together and talk about the DA's race. This friend is an attorney and very aware of the systemic problems with the DA's office and with Esparza. The three of us met at Cafe Central. The friend said that h ..
• 

  An Example of a bad prosecutor/Mr. Allic Sahualla

  Posted: November 21st, 2008, 6:36am EST

  Here is a letter I have written to the head of the screening division at the District Attorney's office. His name is John Davis. Mr. Davis is named in the Brandon Moon lawsuit for various alleged ethical violations that resulted in Mr. Moon spending years of his life in prison for a rape he did not commit. (See blogs on Moon) While I know that the import of my letter and the ethical problems laid out in the letter will mean nothing to Mr. Davis (he is Jaime Esparza's right hand man) maybe a grand jury will feel differently. What you should also keep in mind as you read this letter is that the prosecutor in question, Allic Sahualla, has a few months on the job and look how he is already viciously and vindictively wielding his power, power that you the public have given to him. Can you imagine this guy unchecked in two/three years. Jaime Esparza is growing an army of more Jaime Esparza's. I have decided to publish this letter to my readers so that they can see what we put up with from Esparza's DA's office every day of the week and so that people like Mr. Sahualla, who make the decisions that they do, get the full public credit for those decisions.--For my client's privacy, I have referred to her as Jane Doe. November 21, 2008 Mr. John Davis Head of the Screening Unit District Attorney’s Office 500 E. San Antonio, TX 79901 Re: Jane Doe Dear Mr. Davis: I represent Ms. Jane Doe. Ms. Doe was set for trial on XXX, 2008 in County Criminal Court at Law No. One, on all three of her cases. One of those cases involves an allegation regarding my client’s 15 year old daughter. When I arrived for jury docket call on jury trial day, assistant district attorney Allic Sahualla told me that he wanted to dismiss the cases but that he wanted to make sure that that was ok with the daughter/victim. He said he had not been able to get a hold of her. He said that the cases should be dismissed. He also had not subpoenaed the daughter/victim and t ..
• 

  Ed Archuletta's Contract/More Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge

  Posted: November 4th, 2008, 10:11am EST

  This is a blog about Ed Archuletta's Half a Million Dollar a year "public servant" taxpayer paid salary. Mr. Archuletta is the head of the El Paso Water Utility, aka the Public Service Board (PSB). The El Paso Water Utility is one of the wealthiest water utilities in the nation holding about 28,000 acres of land. It sits in one of the poorest counties in the country and he who controls the water utility controls the price and development of land. The PSB is a division of the city, regardless of what anyone says. Ed Archuletta has been the manager of the water utility for over 20 years now. Under his reign, we have seen El Paso become an oven hot, cemented in nightmare, and water rates have become so high people are afraid to take baths. I haven't even touched on the fraud that is Ed Archuletta's monument to himself at taxpayer expense, our multi-million dollar desalination plant that is operating at less than 1% capacity. The politics of water is just that, Politics. When Ray Caballero was mayor, he declared, with the full support of Ed Archuletta, a drought and decreed that no one could water their yard for more than 2 hours a WEEK! This was really an effort to control the price of land and its development disguised as "drought control." Several months later, Caballero lost his bid for re-election against Joe Wardy. Joe Wardy took office and lifted the watering ban. And then lo and behold Ed Archuletta did a complete volte-face and declared that there was enough water until the second coming of Christ. And not one drop of rain had fallen. Recently, Archuletta has gone to city council and asked that they impose an "impact fee" which would be a tax added to the price of a new home. This in turn would make it harder for first time home owners to get a home. This in turn would mean that fewer homes would be built meaning fewer people working. El Paso ratepayers also have to pay a new storm water fee to pay for water run off. This fee/tax has amounte ..
• 

  Ed Archuleta's Contract/More Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge

  Posted: November 4th, 2008, 10:11am EST

  This is a blog about Edmund Archuleta's Half a Million Dollar a year "public servant" taxpayer paid salary. Mr. Archuleta is the head of the El Paso Water Utility, aka the Public Service Board (PSB). The El Paso Water Utility is one of the wealthiest water utilities in the nation holding about 28,000 acres of land. It sits in one of the poorest counties in the country and he who controls the water utility controls the price and development of land. The PSB is a division of the city, regardless of what anyone says. Ed Archuleta has been the manager of the water utility for over 20 years now. Under his reign, we have seen El Paso become an oven hot, cemented in nightmare, and water rates have become so high people are afraid to take baths. I haven't even touched on the fraud that is Ed Archuleta's monument to himself at taxpayer expense, our multi-million dollar desalination plant that is operating at less than 1% capacity. The politics of water is just that, Politics. When Ray Caballero was mayor, he declared, with the full support of Ed Archuleta, a drought and decreed that no one could water their yard for more than 2 hours a WEEK! This was really an effort to control the price of land and its development disguised as "drought control." Several months later, Caballero lost his bid for re-election against Joe Wardy. Joe Wardy took office and lifted the watering ban. And then lo and behold Ed Archuleta did a complete volte-face and declared that there was enough water until the second coming of Christ. And not one drop of rain had fallen. Recently, Archuleta has gone to city council and asked that they impose an "impact fee" which would be a tax added to the price of a new home. This in turn would make it harder for first time home owners to get a home. This in turn would mean that fewer homes would be built meaning fewer people working. El Paso ratepayers also have to pay a new storm water fee to pay for water run off. This fee/tax has amounted t ..
• 

  Ashlie Hardway Served Yesterday with Lawsuit for Defamation

  Posted: October 28th, 2008, 8:51am EDT

  Yesterday Ashlie Hardway was served at KVIA with a lawsuit for defamation. Theresa Caballero, by and through her attorney, Doris Sipes, is suing Ashlie Hardway, Brenda De Anda, KVIA et. al. for defamation. According to the process server, Ashlie Hardway was very angry when she was served. Interesting that Hardway would be angry given that she ran a story accusing Theresa Caballero of breaking the law, a law she could not have broken, in the middle of Theresa Caballero's bid for District Attorney. And now Hardway's angry? Can Hardway's behavior be lower? Has Hardway no conscience, no class? But these are rhetorical questions. We already know the answers to them based on her past actions and conduct. The almost 40,000 people who went and voted for Theresa Caballero hoping that she would win and clean up the filthy sewer that is the current District Attorney's office Jaime Esparza--they are the ones who are angry. The hundreds of people, who donated what spare cash they had to contribute to TC's campaign so that she would win, are angry. Those of us who worked hard so that TC could win and El Paso would have an honest prosecutor are angry. The people who spent years of their lives in jail/prison for crimes they did not commit and who helped with TC's campaign to get Esparza out of there, are angry. People who believe in the rule of law and understand how dangerous it is for our society to let it be destroyed by anyone, and in this case, Esparza, are angry that TC lost. The anger will live on for generations as more innocent people go to prison for crimes they did not commit or go to death row for crimes they did not commit and the real thieves and animals run loose because Esparza got another 4 year lease to rape and pillage. The anger will last for generations. Let's hope that this lawsuit will remind everyone that there was a chance to change and avoid more hurt and damage and destruction and Ashlie Hardway deliberately ran a defamatory slam piece a ..
• 

  Judge Angie Juarez Barill Hot to Seal Record of Public Hearing, Judge Darr

  Posted: October 21st, 2008, 5:26am EDT

  Two weeks ago, Stuart Leeds and I had a hearing in front of Judge 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 asked 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 property 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 ocassions 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, Alberto Ocegeuda, Jaime Eparza, Joe Spencer, Deanna Spencer, Annabelle Perez, etc. on the stand. The perjury that went on was astounding. Judge Darr, acted very confused and just could not graps our points. It was no surprise that Darr ruled against us. Her predeter mined bias was evident. She is no Carl Pendergrass. 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. She 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 t ..
• 

  Judge A. Barill Frantic to Seal Record of her Recusal Hearing, Judge R.Darr

  Posted: October 21st, 2008, 5:26am EDT

  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 ..
• 

  Gilbert Sanchez found in Contempt of Court

  Posted: October 14th, 2008, 1:36pm EDT

  Today Judge Pendergrass found El Paso County District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez in contempt of Court, ordered him to serve 90 days in jail and ordered that he be given a PR bond. Judge Pendergrass travelled back from Del Rio, TX to enforce his orders of August 2008 undoing the illegal expunction of Alberto Ocegueda'a arrest records for aggravated sexual assault of a child. On August 13, 2008, Judge Pendergrass entered an order setting aside as void Judge Angie Barill's order granting Alberto Ocegeuda an expunction. Judge Barill signed that order even though Ocegueda was not entitled to even file for an expunction for 32 years. Judge Barill refused to correct her bad order when she was called out on the carpet for it. (Actually she was busted) Judge Pendergrass came from del Rio to do what Judge Barill refused to do and correctly ordered the expunction reversed. Judge Barill has consistently refused to follow well established law in this matter which has innured to the benefit of Mr. Ocegueda and Jaime Espoarza and in turn, has hurt this community. Remember, Alberto Ocegueda is the brother of Esparza's over-paid secretary, Amy Ocegueda Lujan, whom Esparza pays $84,000 of your tax dollars to for God knows what. She does not even have a college degree. She earns more than most attorneys in that office. Judge Pendergrass ordered District Gilbert Sanchez to turn the files over to the attorneys of record, that would be Stuart and me. Despite the order, Sanchez refused to give us the files. His attorney, Annabell Perez, of the County Attorney's office, told him NOT to obey the judge's order and she even admitted so in court today. Judge Pendergrass had harsh words for Ms. Perez telling her that he could not understand her position. He could not understand why she had agreed to the expunction when it could not even have been filed for 32 years. He said he could not understand why Perez has refused to correct the record knowing the law. He said he could not u ..
• 

  Ashlie Hardway and KVIA sued for Defamation

  Posted: October 10th, 2008, 5:05am EDT

  This morning my lawyer, Doris Sipes, filed a defamation lawsuit against Channel 7, KVIA TV reporter Ashlie Hardway and her station. I will make the lawsuit available by link here by Monday. Stay tuned.
• 

  An Update on Judge Angie Barill and her Illegal Order Expunging an Arrest

  Posted: October 7th, 2008, 12:43am EDT

  Yesterday, Stuart Leeds and I had an all day hearing in front of Judge Darr from Midland, Texas. Stuart Leeds and I had filed motions to recuse Judge Angie Barill of the 346th District Court due to her biased conduct. She had ordered the expungement of Alberto Ocegueda's records even though they could not be expunged for 32 years from the date of his arrest in November 2006. After DA Jaime Esparza had accused me of violating the expungement statute by violating Ocegueda's illegal expungement order, Staurt Leeds and I filed the unprecedented action of undoing Ocegueda's expungement. Judge Barill, when confronted with her original illegal order of expungement refused to correct her mistake when shown that the records aggravated sexual assault of a child could not have been expunged for 32 years. Judge Pendergrass who ultimately came in to hear the matter, disagreed with Barill and undid her original order and set the record straight. What follows is the opening statement of Stuart Leeds in yesterday's hearing. I want to share his words with you. Judge Darr: Welcome to the Bizarro world of El Paso County where you have just stepped through the looking glass. To a world where two defense attorneys have to expose government corruption and the whole weight of the government opposes them and objects to it. To a world where two defense attorneys have to fight to preserve and protect the public record from unlawful destruction. To a world where the County Attorney's Office agrees to the illegal expunction of the records of an accused Aggravated Sexual Assaulter of a six year old girl and Judge Barill signs the order and grants the unlawful expunction. And all this to help the District Attorney's secretary's brother get his records wrongfully expunged. Make no mistake. This is all about the tail-end of the cover up of an Alleged Sexual Assault of a six year old case. Then Judge Barill refused to correct her error and the record when it was br ..