Posted on 09/03/2017 7:11:45 PM PDT by Elderberry
Waco – At the heart of an alleged criminal conspiracy to withhold key exculpatory evidence in the Twin Peaks cases is the man in the cat bird seat.
A supplemental motion to recuse 19th Criminal District Court Judge Ralph T. Strother filed on Friday, September 1 – after the McLennan County District Clerk’s Office had closed at five minutes to five p.m. on the day the long Labor Day weekend begins – contains the threads of the story.
Filed by Houston defense attorney Casie Gotro on behalf of her client Bandido Jake Carrizal, president of the Dallas Chapter of that organization, the instrument speaks volumes about what a vast conspiracy of public officials have struggled since May 17, 2015 to conceal about the events that led to 9 killings, 20 persons wounded and the arrests of 177 persons on an an identical charge stated in the vaguest of terms – and the concealed exculpatory evidence that subsequent investigation revealed.
Timing is everything, and when investigator Kevin Fisk was unable to gain access to the McLennan County Courthouse prior to closing time, Ms. Gotro directed him to arrange service on the principals of the case by U.S. Postal Service, return receipt requested.
He was able to do it at a self-service kiosk located at the Waco Post Office on the corner of Sanger Avenue at Hwy. 6.
The improvised approach is legal, for the law requires such a motion must be made a minimum of 10 days before a trial is to begin, and the jury trial of Jake Carrizal is set for Tuesday, September 12. Thus, the motion states it is “timely filed” in anticipation of any argument to the contrary.
When a bailiff handed Strother the motion during the jury examination hearing earlier in the day, the act by Carrizal’s defense team stopped the music, under the law.
According to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 18a, a judge subjected to such a motion must request an administrative judge to hear or designate another judge to hear the pleadings; if not, he must forward all statements to the regional administrative judge, and “except for good cause, the judge shall make no further orders and shall take no further action” – pending a hearing.
If he does so in defiance of the law, that action is void, according to Brosseau v Ranzau, 28 S.W. 3d 235, 238, according to the supplemental motion.
By absolutely refusing to “hear all legal arguments and factual proffers from the defense [he is] thereby allowing the State’s arguments and proffers to go uncontroverted…”
Quite simply, the motion alleges:
JUDGE STROTHER HAS ABDICATED HIS ADJUDICATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES.
That is a major bad act under the terms of Canon 3 (B)(1), Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, and never mind the Michael Morton law.
But it’s the evidence withheld by law enforcement officials, clerks, technicians, and contractors that tells the tale, all of which is meticulously documented in the motion.
At the top of the pyramid sits Judge Strother, whose “conduct also deprives the defendant (Bandido Carrizal) his right to make a record and preserve any errors for appellate review.”
That places a defendant in the same position as if he pled guilty and waived all his rights to appeal – without the permission of the Court of original jurisdiction. No bueno.
Heading the list are nine audio recordings of witness statements made by DPS detective on the day of the legal disaster at Twin Peaks and an additional hour of video footage from a police car.
Through the investigation conducted by the law office of Casie Gotro by Kevin Fisk, a former Waco arson investigator whose sanity when questioned by city officials with a motive to do a similar criminal coverup of a murder conspiracy led to his resignation under duress, the defense “independently corroborated” the existence of the exculpatory material, and obtained it.
JUDGE STROTHER HAS FAILED TO MAKE A SINGLE INQUIRY OF THE STATE REGARDING THIS MATERIAL AND FAVORABLE EVIDENCE.
In fact, he has informed Ms. Gotro on the record that he has no intention of doing any such thing.
“Rather he continues to blindly accept the State’s illogical and preposterous excuses,” thus “failing to enforce constitutional protections” on four separate occasions.
The motion concludes:
DEFENDANT HAS NO CHANCE OF A FAIR TRIAL SO LONG AS JUDGE STROTHER IS ALLOWED TO PRESIDE, REFUSES TO ALLOW THE PARTIES TO BE HEARD.
Perhaps most interesting is the list of witnesses or their designees subpoenaed to produce items of evidence who then failed to do so.
One of them, Sheriff Parnell McNamara, did not even appear in response to the summons, nor did he, like Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, have the requested items, allegedly seized by Deputies on the fateful day of May 17, 2015, delivered to the defense.
No one was required to produce the items subpoenaed, and Judge Strother did not allow the defense counsel to call them to the witness stand in order to show through direct examination the cause of their defiance of the subpoenas.
McCraw is the subject of multiple such orders seeking audio and video surveillance, ballistics reports and witness statements.
Jason Stolle, an Information Tech of the Waco Police Department is listed.
Kourtney McClain of PETCO is sought for the surveillance camera footage shot at the time of what the mainstream media has chosen to call a “melee,” in actuality a hail of small arms fire, much of it from the muzzles of weapons whose reports are suppressed by silencers.
Ryan Holt, Waco chief of police, is sought for digital dupes of encrypted communications, especially of “Channel D” directing officers where to deploy and monitoring their maneuvers during the fire fight.
Other Waco Police officials sought include Liz Rohrer, records supervisor; Detective Jill Rogers; Sergeant Keith Vaughn; and Detective Sherry Kingrey.
Peter Caldwell, the general manager of Don Carlos Restaurant, is subpoenaed to furnish video from the establishment’s closed circuit system.
The subpoenaes carry severe criminal penalties for a willful refusal to comply with their requirements.
Exhibits attached to the motion contain the particulars about alleged exculpatory evidence obtained from witness statements and copies of official police and DPS reports regarding the material.
One may review the entire document by merely clicking the hyperlink below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8hyb6acro856v4g/Carrizal%20Supplemental%20RecusalMotion%20.pdf?dl=0
IBTG
marked
Texas Gator isn’t going to be having a good day.
Sometimes LE gets too big to fail. When the Gov’t carries out the cover up it only gets worse. This somewhat resembles the Bundy case(s). Judge refused to let Defendants present a defense. In this case it seems like a Brady v. Maryland case where evidence has been withheld. It will take a Judge to throw the entire matter out for Prosecurial Misconduct.
bump , TG must have got caught with his hand in the cookie jar ?
LOL! Nothing in that article has any impact on the nice day I am having!
“IBTG”
LOL. You REALLY need to get a life!
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