CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

By: Houston Criminal Attorney John T. Floyd and Mr. Billy Sinclair

Fabens, Texas is located thirty miles southeast of El Paso just across the Rio Grande from Mexico. 95 percent of the people living in the town of 8,000 are poor and Hispanic. It’s a young town – the median age is 24 years compared to the median Texas age of 32. The average household income is $18,000 annually compared to $43,000 for the rest of Texas. In a nutshell, it’s a “dusty, little Border town” that stands as open invitation for major Mexican drug traffickers like Oswaldo Aldrete-Davila.

So it was that on February 17, 2005 Aldrete-Davila illegally crossed the border into the United States to transport drugs awaiting him. Drug running was Aldrete-Davila’s chosen career occupation. He reached a van parked in a remote area near Fabens. The van was loaded with 743 lbs of marijuana with a street value of more than $1 million. The keys were in the ignition. Aldrete-Davila hopped in the van and pointed it toward Fabens.

But Border Patrol Agent Jose Compean, who had been patrolling the area where Aldrete-Davila crossed the border, was alerted to the illegal crossing by a surveillance sensor. Compean reported on his police radio that the van leaving the area. Borden Patrol Agent Oscar Juarez was the first agent to spot the van.

Realizing he had been made “by the cops,’ Aldrete-Davila turned the van back toward Mexico – a criminal decision that triggered a high-speed pursuit by Border Patrol agents, including Ignacio Ramos who assumed the lead in the chase. All the agents involved in the pursuit were in direct communication with each other. The local Border Patrol station either did not receive or record these communications. (more…)

By: Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd
and Mr. Billy Sinclair

The grand jury is a powerful weapon in the hands of state and federal prosecutors. An old legal adage says that a prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if it the “target” of a criminal investigation.

Since state and local law enforcement authorities stormed Yearning for Zion Ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, Texas, last April and unlawfully seized more than 450 children from their parents, the leaders and members of the church have been “targets” for grand jury indictment.

The grand jury hammer finally fell on July 22, 2008 on five members of what the Houston Chronicle called “a West Texas polygamist sect” who were indicted on sexual assault of a child charges and a sixth member for failing to report child abuse. The “polygamist sect” designation in the mainstream media, fueled by the arrest and conviction last year of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs in Nevada on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, has lent unwarranted credence to the efforts of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to indict and prosecute adult FLDS male members for what has been described as imposing “forced spiritual marriage” on underage FLDS girls.

“There will be an aggressive effort to apprehend them,” Abbott was quoted by the Chronicle as saying shortly after the grand jury indictments were announced.

The only named person indicted was Warren Jeffs because, as Abbott said, he is already in custody. The Attorney General said the names of the other indicted five FLDS members would not be released until they were arrested. The only information released was that one of the five was charged with bigamy while another was charged with a misdemeanor offense of failure to report child abuse. (more…)

By: Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd and Mr. Billy Sinclair

The International Court of Justice recently issued an order staying the execution of five Mexican nationals held on Texas’ death row in response to a petition filed by the Mexican government. The Mexican government is seeking a review of these particular cases to determine whether the State’s denial of the condemned inmates access to the Mexican Consulate after their arrest adversely impacted their defenses.

One of the Mexican nationals is condemned killer Jose Medellin who has an August 5, 2008 scheduled execution date. Gov. Rick Perry immediately issued a statement through a spokesman that the rapist-murderer’s execution would not be halted.

The Houston Chronicle reported that the Mexican government had sought the stays of execution for the Mexican nationals because “the paramount interest in human life is at stake.” The Mexican government reasoned that if the executions are carried out without the denial of access to the Mexican Consulate issue being fully developed, “Mexico would forever be deprived of the opportunity to vindicate its rights and those of the nationals concerned.”

Gov. Perry was not persuaded. Did they think he would be?” The world court has no standing in Texas and Texas is not bound by a ruling or edict from a foreign court,” the Governor said through spokesman Robert Black said. “It is easy to get caught up in discussions of international law and justice and treaties. It’s very important to remember that these individuals are on death row for killing our citizens.” (more…)

Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd Discusses FBI’s Push to Legitimize Racial Profiling

On July 3, 2008 the Associated Press reported that the United States Justice Department was considering adoption of new rules that would allow the FBI to investigate persons without any probable cause of wrongdoing. FBI officials said that being able to target for selective investigation Muslims, Arabs and other racial and ethnic groups that fit a “terrorist profile” would enable the agency to fulfill a post 9/11 Congressional mandate to “root out” terrorists before they strike.

The Bush administration has consistently issued statements that it does not support the targeting of racial or ethnic groups for selective investigation. The proposed new Justice Department rules, however, would allow the FBI to consider both race and ethnicity among the factors that, according to AP, “could trigger a national security investigation.”

The FBI informed AP that under its existing rules the agency must have either specific evidence or probable cause to believe a crime has been committed before it can initiate an investigation against United States citizens or legal residents. The new rules under consideration would greatly expand the agency’s police powers allowing FBI agents to begin preliminary terrorism investigations based on mined public records or general intelligence data to put together individual behavioral profiles deemed suspicious. Some of the factors the FBI would consider in developing these profiles would include but not be limited to:

• Individuals traveling to regions known for terrorist activity;
• Access to weapons or military training; and
• The individual’s race or ethnicity.

“We don’t know what we don’t know, and the object is to cut down on that,” one anonymous FBI official told the AP in defense of the proposed rule changes. (more…)

Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd Discusses Scalias Blistering Dissent Accusing Justices of Aiding Terrorist

The Supreme Court on June 12, 2008 issued a decision that marked the first time in the nation’s history that the constitutional right to the writ of habeas corpus was conferred on enemy aliens detained abroad by American military forces engaged in an ongoing war. See: Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. ____ (2008) [Slip Opinion No. 06-1195 & 06-1196].

This column dealt rather extensively with the legal ramifications and constitutional underpinnings on this decision (June 24, 2008). The Boumediene decision has drawn a great deal of legal scrutiny and political criticism since its release. One of the decision’s harshest critics, however, was Justice Scalia whose 25-page dissent begs attention.

Pointing out that the Boumediene decision had no basis in constitutional law, Justice Scalia accused the court’s majority of issuing an opinion that will make the nation’s “war on terror” harder and “will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.” It is probably the first time that a dissenting U.S. Supreme Court justice has ever accused other justices of doing work that will aid and abet terrorism. Justice Scalia certainly has a right to his point of view, and he prefaced that point of view with the following compelling information:

“America is at war with radical Islamists. The enemy began by killing Americans and American allies abroad: 241 at the Marine barracks in Lebanon, 19 at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, 224 at our embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi and 17 on the USS Cole in Yemen….On September 11, 2001, the enemy brought the battle to American soil, killing 2,749 at the Twin Towers in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and 40 in Pennsylvania. It has threatened further attacks against our homeland; one need only walk about buttressed and barricaded Washington, or board a plane anywhere in the country, to know the threat is a serious one. Our Armed Forces are now in the field against the enemy, in Afghanistan and Iraq…” (more…)

Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd Discusses False Child Sexual Assault Allegations and Defending the Wrongly Accused

In April 2008, after coming home late from a party, a Wunsche High School student told her father that she had been sexually assaulted at the party by a fellow student. The following day 54-year-old Ruben Cuellar-Romo went with his daughter to her school, and when the daughter pointed out a student as her attacker, Cuellar-Roma stabbed the male student in the chest, stomach and hand. Police quickly determined that the assaulted student, Joshua Chapa, had not been at the party and, therefore, could not have assaulted the girl. Cuellar-Roma was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and remains in the Harris County Jail under a $30,000 bond.

The case garnered extensive local media coverage, leading the evening television newscasts hyped by a number of pre-broadcast teases. The Houston Chronicle also gave the case prominent coverage. Then the alleged teenage victim, according Harris County Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. John Legg, started feeling guilty and recanted the false sexual assault allegation. The recantation story was buried deep in Chronicle. No charges have been filed against the victim.

“We are cognizant of the fact that she is young,” Lt. Legg was quoted in the abbreviated Chronicle article. “Unfortunately, the nature of her lie is very serious.”

To say that the “nature of her lie is very serious” is an understatement at best. False sexual assault allegations and “mistaken identification” influenced by police and victim misconduct are far more prevalent in this country’s criminal justice system than most people realize. Innocent men have spent decades of their lives in prison because of false or tainted mistaken identification in sexual assault cases. (more…)

Houston Criminal Attorney John Floyd Discusses the Tragedy of the John Horn Case and the Implications of Grand Jury No Bill

It was a highly-charged emotional case from the beginning. It had all the social ingredients for stirring controversy: criminals, crime, guns, self-defense, race, and illegal immigrants. It began last November when a 64-year-old Pasadena retiree named Joe Horn saw his neighbor’s home being burglarized by two Hispanic men, Diego Ortiz and Hernando Riascos Torres, who were in the United States illegally(although Horn at the time didn’t know they were Hispanic because of their African-Columbian descent). Horn called 911 to report the crime. He told the 911 dispatcher that he was armed. The dispatcher instructed Horn to stay inside his own residence. Horn ignored those instructions, pointedly telling the dispatcher that he was going to kill the two men.

Whatever his motives, Horn left his residence armed with a shotgun. He confronted the two unarmed men as they walked between his residence and his neighbor’s residence. One of the men, according to news reports, angled in the direction of Horn, who was standing on his porch, before making a dash toward the street in front of Horn’s residence. The other Hispanic man turned away from Horn and fled across the neighbor’s front yard. Horn raised the shotgun and fired one shot that struck the man fleeing toward the street in the back, killing him instantly. Horn turned the shotgun toward the other man and fired two shots, one of which also struck the fleeing man in the back. He continued to run a short distance before collapsing dead.

The case triggered street protests in the Village Grove East subdivision where Horn lives. Those protests were led by community activists Quanell X. The community of Pasadena suddenly found itself the subject of national media attention. This web page posted four blogs (11-29-08, 12-09-07, 12-17-07, and 02-27-08) about the case and the subject of self-defense. Our website quickly discovered that the emotions in the case ran to the extreme – Joe Horn was either a “hero” for killing two “down n’ dirty” criminals or he was a cold blooded murderer who shot two men in the back as they fled.

The problem with extremes is that they never capture the essence of any controversy. They tend only to polarize people, too often along racial and cultural lines as in the Horn case. This was made evident on June 30, 2008 when a Harris County Grand Jury elected not to indict Horn for any criminal offense related to the shootings.  Both extremes were ready with the standard responses. (more…)