Lack of Evidence
Sloppiness of Police and the DA
By Daniel Muniz
 

A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. A liberal is a conservative who has been arrested.

The media tends to depict conservatives as the law and order type who wants to toss thugs in jail and throw away the key. And for the most part, the majority of the public does not mind violent criminals or even petty thieves getting locked up for an extended amount of time. However, there are still quite a number of conservatives who are not exactly comfortable with the tactics of law enforcement and with how the judicial system works.

For instance, not a whole lot of people raise too many objections when the police use strong-arm tactics to reel in a vicious hoodlum or if a judge throws the book at a career criminal even if the evidence is a bit flimsy. In fact, it is often celebrated in many of our TV shows and movies.

But what about ordinary people, who are otherwise law-abiding citizens, are accused of a crime. This is the gray area of civil liberties that the viewpoint of certain conservatives almost matches that of some liberals. And the dilemma for many conservatives is that they really cannot have it both ways. That is, maintain a tough law and order stance and then ignore the recklessness of an overzealous law enforcement and court system.

Here is a recent example from my hometown.

Manuel Eric Herrera of San Antonio Texas was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for a stabbing that occurred in a bar. This arrest took him by surprise because as an army reservist, he was in harm’s way serving our country in Iraq during the time that this crime took place.

In addition to soldiering in Iraq, Herrera is a husband and a father with a new baby on the way. He also just graduated from college to be a math teacher for the following semester. Consequently, this guy does not exactly fit the profile of a violent thug. And also, one has to wonder how this incident could go so far when the federal government could easily prove his exact whereabouts when the assault occurred.
 

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Obviously, this is something that can be verified. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t.

The Bexar County District Attorney’s office felt that they had a good case. His dog tags were found at the scene of the crime and an eyewitness fingered him from a photo lineup. But unlike scenes from popular cop shows and TV dramas that show detectives pouring over details of every single piece of evidence, nobody from the police to the DA’s office bothered to check out Herrera’s story. What is amazing is that a quick verification with the army could unequivocally confirm that he was not even on this continent at the time of the stabbing.

Yet, the District Attorney’s office seemed to ignore the fact that it is physically impossible for a human being to be in two places at the same time. As they continued to vigorously pursue the indictment, Herrera only had two options.

Fight this charge or falsely admit guilt and try to cut a deal for a plea bargain. And with the DA bullying him each step of the way, it was obvious that they were not going to let this thing go.

Undaunted, especially since doing his duty in a hostile environment in a foreign country, Herrera decided to fight back. He managed to get a high-profile attorney, the former mayoral candidate who recently lost the race by a slim margin, to represent him in court.

Next, he went to the press. A local TV news channel had a troubleshooters segment that investigated complaints. Naturally, a case like this piqued the interest of the TV station and they quickly researched the relevant facts.

It didn’t take long for them to get the U.S. Army Reserve’s 90th Regional Readiness Command to confirm that he was in Taji, Iraq during the time of the assault. Next, reporters located other soldiers who served alongside him to confirm that he was indeed in Iraq with them when the crime occurred. And finally, the reporters found the army records that showed that Herrera only had one leave during that deployment which occurred outside the time frame of the stabbing.

In essence, the media proved that he was physically in Iraq when the assault happened.

The news team also interviewed the eyewitness who claimed that Herrera was the assailant. She still disagrees that he was actually in Iraq when the assault occurred and still insists that he was the one who did it.

But this is an aspect that I find very troubling. The police know that certain eyewitness accounts are often unreliable and many detectives prefer to rely solely on physical evidence so that no subjectivity enters the picture. In fact, it is not uncommon to have two people witness a car accident and then each one give entirely different and even conflicting accounts of exactly what happened. Law enforcement knows this and it is very disturbing that they did not even bother to investigate this army reservist’s alibi any further.

As for the dog tags, Herrera only lives one mile away from the icehouse where the stabbing took place. Herrera says:

“I don't know … I've lost a few of those, actually. I used to wear them all the time and they bust off."

Quite a few servicemen have lost their dog tags over the course of time so this is not anything unusual. Also, criminals have been known to carry other people’s identification to throw police off their trail. And besides, a dog tag is not exactly DNA evidence. As evidence, it does have a value but only a limited one when all other factors are considered.

Consequently, it didn’t take long for the press to broadcast the embarrassing position that the District Attorney’s office had found itself in. The DA’s office was still quite stubborn and insisted that the dog tags had played a major role in Herrera’s indictment regardless of what the United States army had to say.

However, within a short amount of time, especially after more press coverage, the District Attorney’s office relented and dropped the charges against Herrera.

But I still find it most appalling that the police didn’t bother to do any follow up on Herrera’s story and neither did the DA’s office. Not only was this case a total waste of taxpayer money and effort, it showed an utter disregard for justice. Do the police and the court system care more about finding someone whom they think they can easily convict instead of finding the actual perpetrator of the crime?

And this is what Herrera had to say after the charges were dropped:

“There was a big part of me that was scared… If I didn't have this airtight alibi, I might have even been falsely convicted. Who knows how many people are out there that are falsely convicted.”

There are people who have always suspected that it is far easier to convict an innocent law-abiding person than it is to convict a hardened criminal. In fact, the criminals already know the laws and the court system very well. They know how to avoid incriminating themselves and have often pushed the judicial system to its very limits.

Inversely, an honest but naïve person can easily be taken advantage of by law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office. And this leads to an even more pressing question.

How many innocent people are bullied by the police and the court system into falsely admitting to guilt?

A violent thug or hardened criminal is adept with dealing with the intricacies of our complex legal system but the honest law-abiding person isn’t.

Suppose that this same incident happened to someone else who didn’t have this “airtight alibi” in which the federal government could verify. In a way, Herrera was very fortunate for his situation. The United States army has a neutral paper trail that could back up his story. The rest of us would be in dire straits if we were in the same position and would ultimately have to rely on the integrity and attentiveness of a jury of our peers.

And I would be remiss to not mention the local media’s role in this case.

I usually rant and rave about the press. Most of the time, they are irresponsible and love to sensationalize news events for bigger ratings. However, this is a time where the press played a huge role in protecting our freedoms. Publicizing this incident embarrassed the police and the District Attorney by airing out their incredible sloppiness and arrogance.

For the media, this incident is boring and not as glamorous or as sensational as the other stuff they commonly exploit. But this time, the press helped get an innocent man out jail and kudos to them for a job well done.

As for myself, I still maintain a tough law and order stance but I continue to share the same concern that “other” conservatives and some liberals have when it comes to our civil liberties. I have no problem with having violent thugs and hardened criminals locked up in jail for a very long but it has to be done by the book. Rules have to be followed and laws must be obeyed so that our justice system is applied as equally as possible to everyone.

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