Thread: Illegal immigrant fails to show in court on assault charges

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/app ... 07/GPGnews

Posted January 6, 2007

Illegal immigrant fails to show in court on assault charges

Fox News talk show host blasts decision by commissioner

By Andy Nelesen
anelesen@greenbaypressgazette.com


A 25-year-old illegal immigrant jumped bail Friday when he failed to show up to face accusations he molested a 12-year-old girl on several occasions last year.


Paulo Sheispan-Landero remained at large late Friday, having been released from custody Tuesday after posting $5,000 bail. He was arrested and booked New Year's Eve after the girl's mother alerted authorities.


Brown County Court Commissioner Jane Sequin on Friday revoked Sheispan-Landero's bond and issued a warrant for his arrest. Sheispan-Landero faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted on the lone count of first-degree sexual assault of a child under age 13.


The case was the talk of the courthouse Friday after Fox News conservative talker Bill O'Reilly pounced on the case as part of his national broadcast Thursday.


O'Reilly blasted Brown County Court Commissioner Lawrence Gazeley's decision to set bail at $5,000, citing initial information from prosecutors that Sheispan-Landero had once been deported for other criminal acts and returned to the area within a week.


At the hearing Sheispan-Landero skipped Friday, Brown County Assistant District Attorney Tom Coaty said prosecutors had obtained ICE documents showing the defendant had never been deported, correcting erroneous information that originally came from the alleged victim's mother.


Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski on Friday said immigration officials confirmed that Sheispan-Landero was in the United States illegally.


Coaty also noted that Sheispan-Landero failed to appear for a hearing on a driving without a license charge Friday morning, prompting an arrest warrant in that case.


Leading up to Friday's sexual assault hearing, O'Reilly was, well, riled up.


"Well, if (Sheispan-Landero) doesn't show up then Gazeley's got to be fired, correct? Gazeley's got to be fired," O'Reilly said, as part of an on-air conversation with former Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher and Rod Wheeler, a Fox News criminal analyst.


"You got to fire a guy that gave (Sheispan-Landero) $5,000 bond right away," O'Reilly said. "Because the system is so corrupt and breaking down everywhere that I am going to make an example of this case."


O'Reilly also lambasted Brown County Circuit Court Judge William Atkinson, who has been assigned to hear the case but has yet to have any input on the file as is typical with a case at this stage of the game.


As part of his report, O'Reilly said he tried to contact Gazeley and Atkinson, but they wouldn't take his calls, accusing Gazeley of "hiding under his desk."


Atkinson, on Friday, said O'Reilly never called his office. However, the show's staff did apparently call the Brown County Clerk of Courts office, a distinct, separate office in the courthouse, Atkinson said.


Atkinson noted that even if O'Reilly had gotten him on the phone, ethical obligations would have precluded him from commenting on the case.


On Friday, in light of the O'Reilly factor, Atkinson contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and issued a "body-only" arrest warrant for Sheispan-Landero, meaning if that he is captured he is to be brought before Atkinson directly.


Gazeley was not available for comment Friday afternoon, but the same ethical issues would apply to Gazeley as apply to Atkinson.


Coaty said O'Reilly's flame of Brown County officials was "unseemly."


"It's odious to attack on something like this when you don't have all the facts," Coaty said.


Zakowski, a Republican and Coaty's boss, was angry that O'Reilly chose this case as fodder for his program.


"I think you have to know all the facts before you jump to conclusions," Zakowski said.


"The recommendation was based on what we knew … which was that (Sheispan-Landero) had been in the community for a period of time, he was working one, maybe two jobs, he had ties to the community, he had (a) girlfriend," Zakowski said. "He had a minor record … no other assaultive behavior and then you have the crime itself, which was a touching, a serious case. Based upon that information, we asked for a ($5,000) cash bond.


"It was within what we often see in a case like this."


"If you strip away this bad information about this deportation, then you would have a Hispanic male with little record," Zakowski said. "You're not going to get much more of a bond than that.


"That number was within the ballpark of what's reasonable."

"I think you have to know all the facts before you jump to conclusions," Zakowski said.

The facts are that a 12 year old girl has been raped and he calls a $5,000 bond reasonable in this case.