Tx Sheriff's Letter Of Imprisoned Deputy Gilmer Hernandez

The Rocksprings Record has published a story concerning the conviction of Edwards County Sheriff's Deputy Gilmer Hernandez who faces sentencing in March for injuring an illegal female immigrant that was a passenger in a vehicle that attempted to run over the deputy.

As Editor Carolyn Anderson puts it, "Many here question why this law officer was ever even charged for doing his job".

The following is an excerpt from the article detailing a recent letter by the county sheriff expressing his viewpoints of the trial:

"Your Honor, I have served the enforcement of the law and the protection of the public for 25 years, 15 of them as an elected Sheriff. I have been cross-designated with the DEA. I was the Task Force Officer and case agent in the prosecution of a Conspiracy to Traffic Narcotics in violation of Federal Statutes. I fully understand the need to protect the rights of all individuals, especially the rights of the accused. I understand the need to defend the rule of law and the Constitution. I understand the need for 18 USC § 242, Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law. I also understand the Doctrine of Self-defense from the use and threatened use of deadly force.

I have always believed that those of us that protect and defend the law are obligated to truth. The truth to disclose to a Jury or Grand Jury all the facts, all the evidence, the truth and the whole truth. We must do this even if the guilty are not indicted or found not guilty. Justice is only truly served with the truth.

I cannot begin to explain to anyone my dismay when I was informed of the guilty verdict handed down against Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F. Hernandez. I assure you that I became truly ill. I could have not been any more upset if the verdict had been passed on my own son.

My first thoughts were that the system that I have served for 25 years had failed. For about three days I was ashamed to be part of the law enforcement community that serves and protects the Constitution. Finally I remembered what I already knew. The Grand Jury did not fail, they indicted on the information they were given. The Jury did not fail, they convicted on the evidence presented. The Court did not fail the system. The Court does not control the investigation or the prosecution’s presentation of the facts.

I know that the system only fails when we (law enforcement officers and prosecutors) the protectors of the system fail the system by not disclosing to the jury the whole truth, all the facts and all the evidence. We fail the system when we imply to the jury wrong doing when there is none. When it is implied that evidence was not collected to protect an officer from prosecution. When we know that the policy requires another agency to collect that evidence and the prosecution knew the evidence was collected. We fail the system when we imply to the jury that policy is law. When we know that policy is only a guideline for operations. When we imply before a jury that evidence may have been tampered with. When those of us who know better know that it is a simple thing for the FBI to test a videotape to see if it has been erased or tampered with. We fail the system when an expert witness testifies with words like “There were four shots fired and maybe six.” When we posture before the jury with implications that we do not believe the integrity of a witness when we know the witness is honorable and truthful. We fail the system when we know a witness for the government has made false statements to investigators and we justify those statements as confusion and we do so for a conviction. We fail the system when we buy witnesses and purchase testimony at the expense of our Statutes.

Your Honor, no man should stand for judgement based on prosecution courtroom antics in the name of advocacy based on false statements and implied evidence. As God is my witness Deputy Hernandez is a good and honorable young man. Deputy Hernandez told the truth when he said the driver of the vehicle tried to run him over. Even the statement of Yvonne Hernandez-Morales supports Deputy Hernandez. “When the officer got to the drivers door the driver took off.” Deputy Hernandez and his wife could have told any story they wanted. Deputy Hernandez was shooting at the tires trying to stop a vehicle whose driver was evading arrest or detention. Deputy Hernandez had every right to arrest and detain the driver of the evading vehicle. Deputy Hernandez did not intentionally harm anyone. Deputy Hernandez is a good enough shot to have placed all the rounds in his weapon right through the back glass of the suburban.

Your Honor, I respectfully request that you sentence Guillermo Falcon Hernandez to time served and release him from custody. Sincerely, Don G. Letsinger, Sheriff, Edwards County

http://www.firesociety.com/article/10121/Petition-to-Pres.-Bush-Free-Deputy-Gilmer-Hernandez-of-Rocksprings-TX/

As Editor Carolyn Anderson puts it, "Many here question why this law officer was ever even charged for doing his job".

I agree with the sheriff in this case it's enough to make you puke. The prosecutor in this case needs to be run out of Texas on a rail after the proper amount of tar and feathers has been applied.

US Attorney Johnny Sutton ordered the arrest of Hernandez on June 6, 2005.

Hernandez was relieved of his duties as a deputy sheriff and transported to Del Rio, Texas where he was held for trial for violating the civil rights of an illegal alien—Garcia—who broke the law by being in the country, and was part of a group who tried to kill the deputy.

That was the point made by Congressman Ted Poe [R-TX] made on the floor of Congress seeking a presidential pardon for Hernandez. POE detailed the events that transpired around midnight on April 14, 2005 into the Congressional Record, and then in disgust, told Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "The vehicle stops," Poe said, "and eight or nine illegals jump out and take off running into the sagebrush. One illegal had a minor injury form a bullet. The US government rounds up six or seven of the illegals and—guess what? [They prosecute] Deputy Hernandez, claiming he recklessly discharged his firearm—and uses illegals as witnesses against the lawman during the trial."

That, of course, is precisely the strategy Sutton used in the government's case against Ramos and Compean. Sutton gave drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete immunity from prosecution for drug smuggling to testify that the two border patrol agents recklessly discharged their firearms and wounded him. Poe told the Speaker that "...this is another example of how the federal government is more concerned about people illegally invading America than it is about the men who protect America. Once again, our government is on the wrong side of the border war."

http://www.newswithviews.com/Ryter/jon161.htm

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