CRIME

COVID-19 pandemic expected to have 'massive' impact on El Paso court system

Aaron Martinez
El Paso Times

As court hearings are postponed because of COVID-19 and trial dates remain up in the air, some El Paso defendants could be waiting more than a year for their cases to be heard.

Thousands of defendants are currently out on personal recognizance bonds, which has terms similar to probation. The delays will essentially result in defendants, who have followed all the terms of their bonds for more than a year, serving two terms of probation if convicted.

It is unlikely any of these cases will be resolved anytime soon, lawyers say.

“There is no one to blame,” El Paso attorney Sergio Saldivar said. “Everyone is trying their best. Law enforcement, judges, court officials and us lawyers — everyone is trying their best. We have never been in a situation like this."

El Paso attorney Sergio Saldivar has seen a drop in income after coronavirus paused hearings.

The full impact COVID-19 will play on the justice system is not yet known, but one thing is for sure — a massive backlog is coming, lawyers say.

As delays continue and cases build up, protecting the constitutional rights of defendants is critical now more than ever, Saldivar said.

“The most important things are safety and making sure no one’s constitutional rights are violated,” Saldivar said. “Just because there is a pandemic doesn’t mean our client’s constitutional rights don’t matter.

"As a matter of fact, it is more important than ever to protect our constitutional rights and make sure our clients get a fair trial.”

It is unknown how many cases have been postponed and how many new cases have been added since the start of the pandemic.

The amount is expected to be "massive," lawyer Justin Underwood said.

“It is creating a backlog for sure,” Underwood said. “I honestly don’t know how many pending cases I have and will have by the end of this. People keep getting arrested and charges are still being filed, so you can imagine how many cases are piling up. It will be overwhelming when we first begin getting started again. It is going to be massive for lawyers, the judges, prosecutors — for everyone.”

The delays could also impact cases by witnesses not being available or having moved away from the county by the time it goes to trial and putting witnesses in danger if they have to travel during the pandemic, Underwood said.

He added that there are dozens of other issues that will inevitably pop up as cases move to trial.

“The can of worms this is going to open is the size of a five-gallon bucket,” Underwood said.

Probate Judge Eduardo Gamboa officiated a coronavirus wedding for Karen and David Espinoza on May 27. He offered a little wedding advice and then conducted the wedding with his mask in place.

'Punishing people who have yet to be convicted of a crime' 

The lack of resolution to cases has raised questions about punishing people who have yet to be convicted of a crime as their cases continuously gets postponed.

Thousands of defendants are currently out on personal recognizance bonds that has terms similar to probation. The delays will essentially result in defendants, who have followed all the terms of their bonds for more than a year, serving two terms of probation if convicted.

“They (District Attorney’s Office) can call PR bonds whatever they want, but PR bond and probation are the same thing,” Underwood said. “You have to have a device on your car, you have to pay money — it’s the same thing. In my opinion, people should get credit for doing the right thing.”

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Because courts are only holding essential hearings, it is not possible for lawyers to try to get their clients off the conditions set by PR bonds.

“These are good people and they are complying with everything the court has set,” Saldivar said. “They are following these terms that are impacting their lives and their jobs. If the DA’s Office is not going to give them credit for it then we should be able to get the terms removed for the people who have been abiding by the law as they wait for their cases to heard, but we can’t because the judge won’t hear those cases. So these people will remain on PR bonds for more than year before their cases are even heard.”

District Attorney’s Office officials said they will look at these on a case by case basis and adding that “every case is different.”

Some cases continue with social distancing

Both federal and state courts have remained partially open. Most federal hearings are continuing, although trials have been postponed until at least June 3 because of the pandemic.

In state courts, the Texas Supreme Court ordered Wednesday that all jury trials be postponed until Aug. 1.

Currently, the state courts are hearing only “essential matters” that are being held by “video conference or in-person if necessary and personal safety guidelines can be followed,” according to the El Paso County Council of Judges.

Reniery Adalberto Galeano, center, sits with his attorneys Sergio Saldivar, left, and Leonardo E. Maldonado on Thursday afternoon. Galeano faces one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the stabbing of Blanca Rodriguez at about 3 a.m. Sept. 18, 2016, during a party at a house in the 200 block of Gus Rallis Drive. The trial is being held in the 168th District Court with Judge Marcos Lizarraga presiding and is expected to continue Friday.

"To promote the safety of all concerned, the courts have made heavy use of videoconferencing, conducting hundreds, if not thousands, of remote hearings since the emergency declarations in March,” El Paso County Council of Judges Executive Director Michael Cuccaro said.

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Cuccaro said that they are following the orders handed down by the Texas Supreme Court and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

As things progress, Cuccaro said they "do plan to allow some limited in-person hearings at the courthouse.

"These will be limited in number and size to protect people’s health, and we will have a number of safety protocols in place. Our preference is to video conference when possible.”

After more than 25 years in the position, El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza announced Tuesday, July 9, 2019, that he will not seek re-election.

El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said that his office is continuing to move forward with cases as they follow safety protocols.

“The District Attorney’s Office has transitioned to a telework environment to ensure continuity of the most essential operations to the community,” Esparza said in a statement. “Our efforts to resolve cases are ongoing despite the pandemic. The office continues to contact victims of crime and handle hearings via video-conferencing pursuant to orders and directives from state and local courts. We are continuously monitoring the impact of COVID-19 and are doing our part to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Justin Underwood, left, lead defense attorney, speaks to the news media after a jury found his client, Adrian Garcia, not guilty in the 2013 death of his girlfriend, Alejandra Arango, on Wednesday in 384th District Court. At right is co-defense attorney Tommy Carter.

Jury trials likely not happening until fall

Several lawyers interviewed by the El Paso Times agreed that they do not see a way a jury trial could be held until at least the fall because of numerous safety and constitutional issues.

El Paso attorney Sergio Saldivar has seen a drop in income after the coronavirus paused hearings.

“The usual pool of jurors are not going to show up because they fear contracting the coronavirus,” Saldivar said. “So already this is going to cause problems. This is going to create a small pool of potential jurors. Added to that, we are going to be concerned about our health, our client’s health, the jurors’ health. All of this leads to the question, are we and the jurors going to be 100 percent focused like the constitution demands of us? How can any of us be effective? How can your client get a fair trial with all these concerns?”

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Saldivar said that he would not feel comfortable taking a case to trial until at least early next year.

“I want to make sure the juries that are empaneled in my cases are a representation of the community and that my client is going to get a fair trial,” Saldivar said. “We need to get everything up and running and we need to get back to normal. I will not be willing to take any of my clients’ cases to trial until at least January 2021. I need to make sure that my clients get a fair trial. That is my priority.”

Judges call in about 200 people for jury selection in felony cases. The number is then whittled down to 12 jurors and maybe one or two alternates.

Jury selections are usually held in large rooms at the courthouse to fit the large number of potential jurors.

Defense lawyer Joe Spencer before the arraignment of the accused El Paso Walmart mass shooter Thursday, October, 10, 2019 in the 409th state District Court with Judge Sam Medrano presiding. The 21-year-old male from Allen, Texas, stands accused of killing 22 and injuring 25 in the Aug. 3 mass shooting at an East El Paso Walmart in the seventh deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history and third deadliest in Texas.

Joe Spencer, a lawyer who has handled some of El Paso’s most high-profiled cases including defending the man accused of killing 23 people at an El Paso Walmart last year, said the pandemic has created several critical issues.

“There are two concerns I have right now which is a defendant’s absolute right to a speedy trial and the second part of that is I don’t know how feasible it is going to be to have a jury trial any time soon,” Spencer said.

The need to have jurors separated, but at the same time together to discuss evidence in jury deliberation rooms is going to cause major problems, Underwood said.

“It is going to be a logistical nightmare,” he said. “It is going to be an absolute disaster.”

Cuccaro said they are still working on how they will handle jury trials.

“We are still in the planning stages for holding jury trials,” Cuccaro said. “Most of the country is in the same boat.”

Probate Judge Eduardo Gamboa officiated a wedding May 27 for Karen and David Espinoso at the Downtown El Paso County Courthouse. Gamboa went out of his way to help the couple get married with the city still in a partial coronavirus shutdown.

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Aaron Martinez may be reached at 915-546-6249; aamartinez@elpasotimes.com; @AMartinezEPT on Twitter.