Thread: 'It's A Shame What Is Being Done to Him"

'It's a shame what is being done to him'
By ANNA M. TINSLEY
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

SUTTON Guillermo "Gilmer" Hernandez, former Edwards County deputy sheriff, says he feared for his life and was just doing his job when he shot at the tires of a vehicle carrying Mexican nationals after, he says, the driver tried to run him down.

But federal prosecutors say that because the vehicle was heading away from him, he illegally used deadly force, violating the civil rights of a woman slightly wounded in the 2005 incident.

Hernandez, 25, faces sentencing March 19 in Del Rio, where he has been held in a federal detention facility since being convicted, in December. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

His sister, Jessica H. Chavez of Fort Worth, can't stand to see her brother behind bars and has been helping push a Web-based national petition drive seeking a presidential pardon. The case is drawing attention in Congress, largely because the it is being prosecuted by the same U.S. attorney's office that won controversial convictions against two Border Patrol agents in an unrelated shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler.

"Our justice system has failed," said Chavez, a 23-year-old administrative assistant. "I know that my brother wouldn't ever do anything to harm anybody or anything.

"He was simply doing his job that day, and it's a shame what is being done to him now."

Traffic stop

In April 2005, Hernandez, made a traffic stop in Rocksprings, a city of nearly 1,300 residents west of San Antonio.

Reports show that Hernandez pulled over a blue Chevrolet Suburban for running a red light. Asked to step out of the vehicle, the driver drove away instead, the sheriff has said. Hernandez, who said the vehicle tried to run him over, fired several shots at the tires, puncturing one.

When the vehicle stopped, all the occupants fled except the wounded Maricela Rodriguez-Gardia, who was among those who paid thousands of dollars to be taken across the border from Mexico.

Rodriguez-Garcia was struck in the lip by a bullet or fragments, prompting the charge of violating her civil rights.

Officials say an investigation by the Texas Rangers and other law enforcers initially cleared Hernandez. But more than a year later, the U.S. Department of Justice reopened the case based on the testimony of some of the illegal immigrants involved.

Hernandez -- a husband and father of an infant daughter -- was convicted Dec. 1 of violating a person's civil rights.

'Free Gilmer'

For family, friends and others in Rocksprings, it's a case of "Deputy Gilmer" vs. the increasingly controversial U.S. District Attorney Johnny Sutton, who has been embroiled in the fallout of prosecuting two Border Patrol agents for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler.

The agents -- Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean -- were convicted on charges including assault with a deadly weapon and causing serious bodily injury after they shot a Mexican national in the buttocks after he abandoned a van loaded with marijuana near El Paso.

Conservative lawmakers have rallied behind the agents, criticizing Sutton, appointed in 2001 by President Bush to represent Texas' western district, and pressuring him to free the agents.

Sutton's office has declined to talk about the case, saying in a statement, "This office will pursue criminal charges where there is prosecutable criminal activity and competent evidence to prove it."

Family and friends in Hernandez's hometown of Rocksprings have rallied behind him, with stickers, shirts, signs, pins and hats saying "Free Gilmer." Residents have written letters praising Hernandez and his law enforcement, and the case has been profiled on America's Most Wanted.

And now an online petition is under way, seeking a presidential pardon for Hernandez. "This entire matter has been a travesty of justice and complete waste of taxpayer's money," the petition says.

'On the wrong side'

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, has spoken out in Congress on Hernandez's behalf.

"Citizens of his town are mad," Poe said in a statement delivered on the House floor and currently posted on his congressional Web site. "One said, 'Our deputy's in jail for doing his job.'"

Poe called it "another example of how the federal government is more concerned about people illegally invading America than it is about the man who protects America. Once again, our government is on the wrong side of the border war."

Poe is also pushing for a presidential pardon for the former border agents.

As for Hernandez, Chavez said so many people are standing behind her brother because they know the type of person he is.

"They know and have seen Gilmer grow up to be a very respectful and [well-] behaved young man," Chavez said. "Everyone felt safe and protected when Deputy Gilmer Hernandez was on patrol because he cared for everyone.

"Now the illegals come into the U.S. [and] try to run my brother over while fleeing from a traffic stop, and he's behind bars," she said. "It's not right."

Sutton's assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, Bill Baumann, has said Hernandez was wrong to fire at the vehicle because it was headed away from him and wasn't a direct threat.

"The law says you cannot use deadly force to stop a car unless it poses an imminent threat to the officer or another person," Baumann has told reporters.

www.freegilmer.com

Anna M. Tinsley, 817-390-7610 atinsley@star-telegram.com



http://www.star-telegram.com/226/story/33136.html

Officials say an investigation by the Texas Rangers and other law enforcers initially cleared Hernandez. But more than a year later, the U.S. Department of Justice reopened the case based on the testimony of some of the illegal immigrants involved.

Hernandez -- a husband and father of an infant daughter -- was convicted Dec. 1 of violating a person's civil rights.

Now this is someone who deserves some tears for the injustice that has been done to him and his family ,along with the other two border agents who were wrongly convicted.