El Paso judge dismisses capital murder case, cites concerns over prosecutors' actions
A state judge dismissed a capital murder case, stating that the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office attempted to use an “unjustifiable penalty” — the death penalty — against a defendant seeking his constitutional right to a speedy trial.
Judge Alyssa Perez, who presides over the 210th District Court, on Tuesday granted a defense lawyers’ motion for dismissal for prosecutorial vindictiveness with prejudice.
"It does not in many ways feel like justice because at the end of the day, we are dealing with circumstances and allegations that are very serious," Perez said. "There are families of victims that are not being well served when cases within the DA's office can just be disregarded. There are so many troubling things."
Defense lawyers Denise Butterworth, Omar Carmona and Felix Valenzuela argued in their motion that prosecutors were seeking the death penalty because their client, Ivan Gabaldon, was exercising his constitutional right to a speedy trial as prosecutors attempted to delay the case because it had been mishandled.
Gabaldon originally was arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the Feb. 22 stabbing death of 63-year-old Juan Garcia Flores during an alleged sexual encounter for money in a building on Texas Avenue near Downtown El Paso.
Perez agreed with defense lawyers.
"I do feel that the defense has provided sufficient evidence that the re-indictment and the decision to seek the death penalty was an unjustifiable penalty resulting solely from Mr. Gabaldon exercising his right to go to trial," Perez said.
El Paso County District Attorney’s Office officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Butterworth, after the hearing, called the actions of the district attorney’s office “repugnant” and an attempt to “manipulate the justice system.”
"This case went from zero to a hundred because the bottom line is the state of Texas was not ready and when they were exposed for not being ready, in our opinion to buy more time, they threatened to re-indict and then seek the death penalty," Butterworth said. "They did it so callously in the middle of a hearing with what I can only assume is no policy or procedure behind how to make that decision. It was scary. It was scary that that kind of power was being abused and the law, thank God, allowed the judge to step in and stop it."
She continued, "It was I believe an abuse of power and the ruling today from the judge, who watched this play out for weeks and months, made the right call and was able to stop basically a rogue prosecutor from deciding in the middle of a hearing that he's going to unilaterally seek the death penalty and then make good on it."
The dismissal came after several weeks of contentious hearings between defense lawyers and state prosecutors with the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office.
El Paso County District Attorney’s Office Senior Division Chief Curtis Cox admitted during a Nov. 16 hearing that prosecutors mishandled the case and no action had been taken on it for months.
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Defense lawyers Carmona and Butterworth stated that, unlike prosecutors, they were ready to go to trial Dec. 2.
Cox, a high ranking member of El Paso District Attorney Yvonne Rosales' administration, then offered to release Gabaldon from jail on a personal recognizance bond, also known as a PR bond, while awaiting trial.
A PR bond is when a defendant is released from jail without having to post bail as long as the defendant agrees to and abides by several conditions set by a judge.
Gabaldon has been in jail since his arrest in February on a $1 million bond. He is expected to be released from jail Tuesday night, his lawyers said.
State prosecutors then said - 72 hours later - during a Nov. 19 hearing that they were considering seeking the death penalty.
The El Paso County District Attorney’s Office then re-indicted the case on a capital murder charge and officially filed a notice Nov. 22 stating they would seek the death penalty against Gabaldon.
"What we saw was the third in command at the DA's office say that because he was unprepared and because he admitted to mishandling the case, he agreed to release our client from jail for free. He agreed to a PR bond," Carmona said. "Only to then move moments later and say, 'now I will consider the death penalty if that becomes necessary.' I mean, that's a threat. That's telling the judge because you didn't go my way, now you're going to leave me no choice, but to take this human being's life."
He continued, "The words PR bond and death penalty don't coexist. They are on the two most opposite ends of the legal spectrum and criminal law. He did that to threaten our client and it was disgusting."
Cox and state prosecutor Scott Ferguson argued during a Nov. 29 hearing that after evaluating the case, he believed the serious nature of the crime warranted the death penalty.
The Dec. 2 trial date was delayed Nov. 29 after defense lawyers filed the motion for dismissal due to prosecutorial vindictiveness in order to give Perez time to rule on the motion.
Perez granted the motion Tuesday, calling the actions of the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office “very concerning.”
"I am very concerned and have been concerned for a while because of the lack of diligence that the state of Texas has in the manner in which they've been handling — you all have been handling these cases,” Perez said. “It is with no pleasure whatsoever that I am looking at this case and just feeling in my years as a prosecutor and being in this courthouse, I certainly did not expect to be in a position to see the state of Texas literally disregard some of the most serious cases to include this one."
Aaron Martinez may be reached at 915-546-6249; aamartinez@elpasotimes.com; @AMartinezEPT on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Judge dismisses El Paso capital murder case over prosecutors' actions
