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January 30, 2008
Case File No.
3829
By
Jack D. McNamara
Saturday
night, January 12, I heard a specific allegation that a Brewster County
criminal case involving a sexual assault and which included a grand
jury indictment was unaccountably delayed for months.
On the following Monday morning I called 83d District Attorney Frank
Brown here in Alpine and asked about the allegation.
DA Brown confirmed there was a case but told me the case was “still
sealed.”
I called the District Clerk’s office and the deputy clerk confirmed the
case file was not available. I went to the clerk’s office to inquire
further.
No file was available but entries regarding the case were on the
clerk’s computer which the clerk read to me. The entries included an
indictment and the issuance of a “capias.”
There were no entries describing a judge’s order to “seal” the file.
But the deputy clerk, reading the computer screen, said there was a
motion to recall the arrest warrant (the “capias”).
I spoke with the 394th District Judge Ken DeHart on January 17. He said
he had no such case in his office, sealed or otherwise. He said further
that some cases were “automatically sealed” if no bond was set on the
defendant, or if the defendant was “on the lam.” Judge DeHart said he
would look into the matter immediately.
District Clerk Jo Ann Salgado returned to the office on January 18 and
started looking for the case.
Following the January 21 Martin Luther King Monday holiday, Mrs.
Salgado called me to say the file was found and was available in the
clerk’s office. Mrs. Salgado told me the file had fallen behind a
filing cabinet.
I went to the clerk’s office and was shown Case File #3829. The
defendant was indicted August 7, 2007; the indictment is filed in the
case file and signed by the foreman of the grand jury, Bonnie Bratton.
A bond of $15,000 is written in ink on the indictment.
Two days after the indictment and the order to arrest the defendant, DA
Brown submitted a “motion to recall warrant.” Judge DeHart signed the
order which recalled the arrest warrant on August 9, 2007 and it was
filed the same day.
I haven’t used the name of either the alleged victim or the indicted
defendant. Such facts are usually available in the public file in the
clerk’s office.
These are sensitive matters and we need further information from those
officers responsible for prosecuting this case and others. The
administration of the court system is a major concern of the public and
court records are presumed to be public.
We emailed DA Brown for comment on 1/29 but have not yet received an
answer. When he does answer we will post it on this site.
#
# #
“Cases piling up
before Justices” is the headline in a San Antonio Express-News online
column January 27. The article concerns the Texas Supreme Court. Three
of the Court’s justices (all Republicans) are charged with ethics
violations and the article points out that 111 civil cases are pending
before the Court.
In 1990 we examined a similar issue here in the Nimby News #15.
At that time Brewster County was in the 83d District (Reagan, Upton,
Pecos, Brewster, Presidio and Jeff Davis counties). On August 1 there
were 725 cases pending, 546 civil and 179 criminal cases. Sixty-six of
the total criminal cases were in Brewster County, more than any other
county. But 26 of those “cases” were defendants who had not been
arrested. And some of the individuals were indicted for as many as four
counts or offenses.
394th District Clerk Jo Ann Salgado is currently toting up the number
of cases over the past year 2007. When I looked at the rough totals she
was through August. All the felony offenses from murder through drugs
are tabulated. Sexual offenses are totaled in two columns, one
involving adults and another involving children or minors. From January
through August the numbers in each column are 2 (adults) and 3
(minors). Those numbers seem very low in comparison with anecdotal
accounts around the community.
The total of all criminal cases in 2007 varies little, from 91 total
felonies before the Court in January 1, 2001 to 100 in July.
As was the case in 1990, a great deal of the state
district court’s time in Brewster County is devoted to civil
matters. One half of the civil cases involving divorce or family
matters for the entire 83d District were Brewster County cases in 1990.
During that month of August 1990 Judge Alex Gonzalez, 83d District,
called more than 200 cases to the docket. At the beginning of August,
Brewster County accounted for 28% of the cases, exceeded only by Pecos
County’s 35% and Presidio County’s 22%. Jeff Davis, Reagan and Upton
counties accounted for only 13% all together.
Numerous rumblings continue around the Big Bend counties which now
comprise the 394th District Court. Most of those rumblings are directed
at 83d District Attorney Frank Brown and many of those complaints
concern inefficiency in moving cases.
Case #3829 may be one of those. •
(Published
by the Nimby News January 30, 2008.)
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