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http://www.swtexaslive.com/node/3525

"Rocksprings, Texas sheriff says his deputy victimized by overzealous federal prosecutor"

March 7, 2007
By Joe Hyde
Publisher

Edwards County Sheriff Don G. Letsinger in his office (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)
click to enlarge

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “I’ll tell you one thing is going to happen from all of this: someone is going to get killed,” Edwards County Sheriff Don G. Letsinger said about the current climate of prosecuting law enforcement officers, including one of his own.

Letsinger has noted five highly publicized cases brought by the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas. That “someone” that may be killed is not likely to be a civilian, according to Letsinger. “The checklist is getting too long before you [as a law enforcement officer] decide ‘is it going to be me or you?’” he said.

Letsinger is Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez’s boss. And today, Hernandez sits in the GEO Group jail in Del Rio, Texas, awaiting sentencing that could incarcerate him for ten years in a federal penitentiary. Hernandez’s crime was that he used a firearm, he contends, in self-defense. The feds say he violated the civil rights of an illegal alien in doing so."

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LETTER - QUOTE:

Sheriff Don Letsinger's Letter to Judge Robert T Dawson on convicted Edwards County Deputy Gilmer Hernandez

"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