Posted on 03/18/2008 11:56:49 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
BISBEE — The exact cost to prosecute and defend Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett’s murder trial is not clear, but the amount could likely be counted in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Corbett is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide of Francisco Dominguez-Rivera. On March 7, a federal judge declared a mistrial in his case because the jury could not decide on a verdict. Prosecutors plan to retry the case.
Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer said the cost of the prosecution is being paid for with Criminal Justice Enhancement, or CJE, funds.
The money originates from fines and surcharges that are paid by criminals, Rheinheimer said. The state Supreme Court gives the money to the state Attorney General’s Office, and it is then passed on to county attorneys for use in “extraordinary prosecutions.”
The funds come in on an annual basis, but county attorney offices are allowed to keep any funds that are not spent in past years. There is currently about $400,000 in CJE money available to the county, Rheinheimer said.
Also, the County Attorney’s Office has about $200,000 in its Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations accounts. But Rheinheimer does not anticipate exhausting the CJE funds and needing to use RICO money.
The Border Patrol Union’s Web site says lead prosecutor Grant Woods is “Cochise County’s quarter-million dollar man.”
Rheinheimer said the final bills for the first trial are not available yet, but based on estimates, he would be “surprised” if the total is even half of that $250,000 amount.
Woods has agreed to work pro bono on the preparation for the second trial, but he will be paid during the trial time, Rheinheimer said. Woods and his assistant, Tyrone Mitchell, are not profiting on this case because they are putting so much time into it, he added.
“That is one of the reasons why I called Grant to do the case,” Rheinheimer said. “He has done cases for other counties and he does them at greatly reduced rates and he does them as a public service for the counties.”
The Local 2544 National Border Patrol Council in Tucson claims on its Web site that “the taxpayers of Cochise County are getting soaked” by this case.
Rheinheimer stressed the money that is being used does not come out of the county’s general fund and so “it is not taxpayer money.”
The Border Patrol Union’s Web site says: “Although they claim that the money for this pathetic prosecution comes from a ‘special fund,’ they fail to point out that those ‘special funds’ could and should be used to prosecute someone who actually committed a crime.”
But Rheinheimer countered that statement by saying, “There is hardly a more serious crime than murder.”
Sean Chapman, the lead attorney representing Corbett, declined to comment on questions regarding the funding to pay for the defense.
Edward Tuffly, president of Local 2544 National Border Patrol Council in Tucson, said the union is “not backing down” from helping Corbett.
“We are prepared to defend agent Corbett at another trial, and another, and another. We will not stop defending agent Corbett no matter how much money Ed Rheinheimer throws at this prosecution,” he said in a statement.
Tuffly did not respond to a request asking for the amount of money that the union has provided for the defense.
But it is obvious the cost of the defense is expensive.
For example, the defense paid a total of nearly $20,000 to two witnesses who testified during the first trial — and that amount does not include the money they were paid on the days they gave their testimony.
Richard Mason, medical examiner for Santa Cruz County in California, said he received $450 per hour, plus $2,100 to sit in the witness box in court, and he had worked 12 or 13 hours prior to the trial.
Elmer Pellegrino, director of the police academy at Fullerton College in California, said he was retained by the defense at $250 per hour, plus $125, and he had worked 35 to 40 hours prior to the trial.
Woods said the prosecution did not pay any of its witnesses to testify.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Jonathon Shacat can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathon.shacat@bisbeereview.net.
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Something is seriously wrong when medical examiners and government employees make 250-500 an hour and the jury gets less than 10 dollars a day without meals.
Exactly.
Jurors should be paid at a rate equivalent to any of the court bailiffs.
Its one thing to expect jurors to donate time when trials last a couple of days. With trials lasting weeks and months, you've just limited your juror pool to a very small subset of your citizenry.
Actually I don’t think anyone should get paid at all. I realize though that most can’t afford a long, extended time away from work. Maybe people should get paid what they are currently making. If you don’t work, being on the jury would not be a hardship and you wouldn’t get compensated. Pay the witnesses the average wage of the jury. JAT
Thank you for the ping.
FYI, we are very concerned that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans has not ruled on the Ramos & Compean appeals. It was due last month. - TAB
Re: Ramos & Compean Appeals
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