Time: Fri Aug 15 20:34:39 1997 by usr01.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id TAA06990; Fri, 15 Aug 1997 19:39:45 -0700 (MST) Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 19:38:36 -0700 To: sdykstra@erols.com From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: Hernandez The state grand juries are also being convened pursuant to unconstitutional juror and voter registrant statutes. /s/ Paul Mitchell http://www.supremelaw.com copy: Supreme Law School At 06:39 PM 8/15/97 -0700, you wrote: >I thought the examiner determined that this guy was shot in the back. >What gives?? > >Scott > >03:21 PM ET 08/15/97 > >Marine's non-indictment angers dead teen's friends > > > By Jodi Bizar > EL PASO, Texas (Reuter) - Angry friends of a Texas teen-ager > >shot dead by a U.S. Marine said on Friday a decision not to >indict the Marine showed the military was free to act with >impunity on the U.S.-Mexico border. > Marine Cpl. Clemente Banuelos shot Esequiel Hernandez, 18, >during an anti-narcotics border surveillance mission on May 20 >but escaped murder charges Thursday when a grand jury in Marfa, >Texas, decided against an indictment. > Military officials successfully argued that Hernandez, who >was herding goats, had shot at a group of four Marines and >Banuelos, 22, opened fire because Hernandez was raising his >rifle to shoot again. > The decision not to lay charges outraged residents of >Redford, the tiny Rio Grande border town where Hernandez, a U.S. >citizen of Mexican descent, attended high school and herded his >family's goats every afternoon. > They say there is no way he would have deliberately opened >fire with his old .22 caliber rifle on anyone, much less a group >of heavily armed Marines, and believe justice has not been >served. > ``We are not out for vengeance but we think he (Banuelos) >should have been held accountable in some way,'' Father Melvin >LaFollette, a Redford resident and former Episcopal minister, >said on Friday. > ``This is part of a pattern of immunity that certain >elements of the security forces have. That's immunity,'' said >Benito Juarez, coordinator of the Immigration and Refugee >Coalition in Houston. > Others said Marines should never have been sent into >civilian areas to boost the war on drugs. ``It puts us all in >danger. It could have been any one of us,'' Enrique Madrid, >another Redford resident, said. > After the shooting, the Pentagon suspended its military >border patrols and is currently reviewing the terms of its >participation in the anti-narcotics effort. > Civic groups that lined up behind Hernandez's family in the >case complained that one member of the grand jury was an active >official of the Border Patrol, the agency in charge of the >anti-narcotics mission that ended with the teen's death. > They want a court of inquiry to investigate the grand jury >probe, and said Friday they would look at the possibility of >charges being filed against Banuelos' superiors, who allegedly >issued the order to open fire on Hernandez. > LaFollette also criticized Presidio County District Attorney > >Albert Valadez, who failed to win an indictment. > ``If he had wanted an indictment he would have gotten one. >He was just trying to weasle out of it,'' LaFollette said. > Hernandez's family was not available for comment on Friday. >Their attorney has urged them to stay quiet because they are >preparing a civil lawsuit for damages. > The fact that Banuelos, like Hernandez, is a Mexican >American helped limit racial divisions in the case, but some >border groups still saw race as a factor. > ``They wouldn't carry out this type of military operation on > >the border with Canada so, yes, there is a certain level of >racism in this,'' Juarez said Friday. > Jack Zimmermann, Banuelos' attorney, said Thursday that his >client fired only because his fellow Marines were in serious >danger. He also said Hernandez, an Hispanic teen-ager carrying a >rifle in open country near the border, had appeared to ``fit the >description of a drug trafficker''. > ^REUTER@ > > > > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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