June 21
TEXAS:
MURDER TRIAL DEFENDANT APPEARS IN COURT BRIEFLY
A capital murder defendant charged with shooting a man to death during a
Thanksgiving Day robbery was in court briefly Monday.
Edgardo Santibanez Sanchez, 38, who is scheduled for trial in October for
the alleged murder of Alberto Flores III, was in 7th District Judge Kerry
Russell's court for a status hearing in which attorneys took up "house
cleaning" matters in the case.
Chief Felony Prosecutor April Sikes said a swab taken from a vehicle they
believe Sanchez was driving is being DNA tested and 2 weapons recovered in
the case are going through ballistics testing at Texas Department of
Public Safety labs in Garland and Austin.
The state has a few weeks to decide if it will seek the death penalty in
the case, according to the judge's scheduling deadline.
Sanchez, who uses a Spanish-speaking interpreter in court, is charged with
killing Flores, 19, at a mobile home park off Farm-to-Market Road 14.
The Tyler man pleaded not guilty to the charge at his arraignment May 11.
Defense attorneys Bobby Mims and Tonda Curry are representing Sanchez
while assistant district attorneys Will Tatum and Daphne Session are
prosecuting the case with Mrs. Sikes.
Smith County officials have said they believe Sanchez shot the random
victim many times during an aggravated robbery with an automatic assault
rifle.
During the Dec. 7 arrest, deputies allegedly discovered 67 counterfeit
$100 bills and several weapons, including a British World War II-era 9 mm
assault rifle with a homemade silencer. Due to the illegal automatic
weapons and the counterfeit money, for which he could face federal
charges, both the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF) and the Secret Service are involved in the investigation.
Sanchez may also be a suspect in multiple slayings in Mexico and an
attempted murder in East Texas more than a decade ago, officials have
said. He remains in Smith County jail.
The judge has issued a restrictive and protective order, limiting what
those involved in the case can disseminate to the public.
(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)
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Man's trial set in Farmersville slaying----Collin: Death penalty sought
for confessed killer of woman, 20
Moises Mendoza has never disputed that he killed Rachelle O'Neil Tolleson.
He has confessed to the crime several times. The story just changed a bit.
His capital murder trial begins Tuesday in the March 2004 death of the
Farmersville woman who left her 6-month-old baby on a bed when police say
Mr. Mendoza forced Ms. Tolleson, 20, to leave her home.
Her burned body was found in far eastern Collin County in a creek bed
after days of searching by family, friends and Farmersville police.
Mr. Mendoza, 21, initially confessed to the crime, saying he acted alone,
police said. Then, he told police he had help. Police say they have
discounted the latter version of his story.
His attorney, Juan C. Sanchez, could not be reached for comment.
The Collin County district attorney is seeking the death penalty if Mr.
Mendoza is convicted of capital murder.
Ms. Tolleson's family members said they will attend the trial at the
McKinney courthouse. It's hard to imagine the horror that Ms. Tolleson
went through, her family said Monday.
"We just hope justice will be served," said Char Clark, a cousin. "We're
very devastated this has to come up again, that we have to relive it."
Ms. Tolleson and her husband, Andrew, were estranged at the time of her
death. Although they attended Farmersville High School with Mr. Mendoza,
her family has said the 3 were not friends. They also said Ms. Tolleson
and Mr. Mendoza were not dating.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Mr. Mendoza said he killed
Ms. Tolleson out of fear of going to jail.
"No matter what they read, people think I'm an animal. I'm a human being.
People make mistakes. I'm not saying that justified it," he said. "I know
I took that little girl's mother away ... a mother, a daughter, cousin to
others. I want to send them my apologies. I know it means nothing."
In a letter to his parents, Mr. Mendoza said he "turned into the devil"
when he killed Ms. Tolleson, according to court records.
Police say he raped Ms. Tolleson, strangled her and hid her body in a
field behind his house. He moved her body to a creek and burned it a few
days later.
Mr. Mendoza has denied raping Ms. Tolleson or setting her body on fire. He
said she left her home willingly and the sex was consensual. Relatives say
she never would have left her daughter, Avery, alone.
Authorities say the disarray of furniture, her unattended child and
groceries in her car show that Ms. Tolleson was abducted.
Mr. Mendoza told The News he is a mild-mannered person and has never been
physically violent with women. Police say that's not true.
During a domestic disturbance, police said, Mr. Mendoza threw his sister
down in the front yard of their home, bruising her stomach. He had been
upset because his mother would not give him the car keys, according to the
police report.
An ex-girlfriend told police that she was hit, sexually assaulted, choked
and stalked in 2003 after trying to break off her relationship with Mr.
Mendoza.
***********************************
Paralegal accused of posing as lawyer----Grand jury to consider charges
today; he denies misrepresenting himself
Judge Gracie Lewis heard the rumor at lunch: Someone was making the rounds
at the Dallas County courthouse posing as an attorney.
Hours later, a man she'd never seen before hustled into her court carrying
a handful of documents and preparing to ask her to delay a hearing for a
juvenile.
"When he walked in, I knew it was him," said Judge Lewis, who was struck
by the fact that he didn't identify himself, as is customary. "I asked him
specifically, 'Are you an attorney?'"
John Dejean gave her a law license number, but a quick Internet search
found that it wasn't his.
At that point, lawyers and judges say, a bold charade that had gone on for
months - and may have helped get a client charged with capital murder -
began to unravel. A grand jury today will consider indicting Mr. Dejean on
charges of theft and falsely claiming to be an attorney.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for theft
and up to 10 years for posing as an attorney.
In the theft allegation, Mr. Dejean is accused of charging more than
$1,500 to a client for a variety of tasks including representing a
relative in a parole hearing, filing a divorce and drafting a restraining
order. Authorities say the work was not performed, but they declined to
discuss details.
Mr. Dejean, 50, maintains he is innocent, saying he was only an "attorney
representative." In all the cases in question, he says, he was acting on
behalf of other lawyers. He says he doesn't know anything about the theft
allegation.
Mr. Dejean is in fact a successful paralegal who represents mostly poor
clients. He has done a remarkable job reassembling his life after going to
prison for check forgery in 1993.
For about 8 years, he has done paralegal work - filing and drafting
documents, doing research and performing many other tasks short of
courtroom work, which is reserved for lawyers.
In recent years, Mr. Dejean established a bustling paralegal business,
mainly helping convicts file legal motions. In his wallet, he carried a
folded-up newspaper clipping detailing how his work helped free a man who
had languished in prison for more than 30 years.
Clients seeking help with problems from traffic tickets to homicides
streamed in and out of the glass-walled suite he opened in a bank tower
near the Frank Crowley Courts Building. Lawyers say Mr. Dejean boasted
that he had plenty of paying customers he could refer to them.
But clients, lawyers and judges say Mr. Dejean crossed the line along the
way. They say he started trying to do the work of a full-fledged attorney
by himself.
Most of the cases in which they say he misrepresented himself as a
licensed attorney involved his putting himself in a position where they
assumed he was.
State District Judge Manny Alvarez said he became suspicious when Mr.
Dejean walked into his courtroom to ask him for a bond reduction hearing,
something only a lawyer can do. When confronted, Mr. Dejean acknowledged
that he was not a lawyer. Judge Alvarez said he then confiscated the court
file Mr. Dejean was carrying.
A capital murder case
Jimmy Scoggins says his son is in jail facing capital murder charges in
large part because of Mr. Dejeans' legal advice. Timothy Scoggins
scrounged up $3,000 and turned to Mr. Dejean for help when he learned that
Dallas police wanted to talk to him about a drug-related quadruple
homicide in January.
Jimmy Scoggins drove his son to meet Mr. Dejean in the parking lot outside
Dallas police headquarters. Mr. Dejean advised the younger Mr. Scoggins
that police were interested in him only as a witness to the robbery and
shooting and accompanied him to give a statement to detectives.
"He told me that we didn't have anything to worry about, that everything
would be all right and the detective didn't want my son for anything but a
witness," Jimmy Scoggins said.
He said he and his son thought Mr. Dejean was an attorney.
According to court records, Mr. Scoggins told police he had been present
during the robbery as a lookout and had carried a shotgun and fired at a
fleeing car.
Mr. Scoggins was arrested a few weeks later and charged with capital
murder, as any suspect in a robbery that leads to a homicide can be, even
if authorities believe the suspect wasn't the killer.
Mr. Scoggins faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted. He
declined an interview request from jail.
His statement would be critical in his prosecution because the only
evidence linking Mr. Scoggins to the crime is the statement of a
co-defendant, which isn't admissible in trial without corroboration.
"My son's in a situation now that he shouldn't even be in because his case
was handled by someone who isn't even a lawyer," Jimmy Scoggins said.
Mr. Dejean says he did sit with the younger Mr. Scoggins when he talked
with police detectives but says he never gave him legal advice and told
the officers present that he was there only as a friend. He says that he
was given only $700 for Mr. Scoggins' bail fund, but that it hasn't been
enough to get the man out of jail.
"People think if they can lie about me, it's going to help Tim," Mr.
Dejean said. "Tim is in jail because there was a shooting and he was
there."
Mr. Scoggins now has a licensed attorney, public defender Michael Byck,
who said he hopes he can get the statement suppressed. Prosecutors say
that's not likely because Mr. Scoggins gave the statement voluntarily and
police were not part of any deception.
Maintaining innocence
Mr. Dejean blames the allegations on miscommunication or lies. He said
that because he has a flourishing paralegal business, he has no incentive
to pose as an attorney.
"These people coming out of the woodwork saying I'm an attorney is a
straight lie," he said.
The confusion started, he said, when an attorney he worked closely with
began having personal problems. Mr. Dejean said he had to secure delays
for cases and find other lawyers to handle them - all duties that a
paralegal can perform. That attorney did not return phone calls.
Sharion Fisher, another attorney, said she agreed to take on some of the
clients. But she said that relationship ended when she learned that
someone had signed her name on some court documents for some cases she
knew nothing about. A federal lawsuit in Florida was also filed using her
name.
"I don't do cases out of the state, and I don't do very much on the
federal level," Ms. Fisher said. "Somebody signed my name on the pleadings
- I sure didn't. That's when I disassociated myself with him totally. You
don't sign my name on anything without permission."
Lavanda Collins hired Mr. Dejean when someone stole her identity and began
writing checks in her name, leading to her arrest. Months later, while her
case languished and while she thought Mr. Dejean was acting as her
attorney to get her cleared, Ms. Collins learned she could have easily
been cleared of wrongdoing with a couple of phone calls to investigators
that Mr. Dejean never made.
She says she never got her $500 back.
"He acts like he's more for you than the rest of the world," Ms. Collins
said. "But he ran over me harder than the person who stole my identity."
Mr. Dejean's most celebrated client, Robert Coney, said Mr. Dejean played
only a minor role in his release from prison.
Mr. Coney had his 1962 murder conviction overturned more than 30 years ago
but stayed in prison because the paperwork somehow got lost. He said he
toiled mostly on his own to win his release and later got help from
attorney David O'Neil and, to a limited degree, Mr. Dejean.
A Texas appeals court set aside his conviction in December, but he was
picked up on a 1959 prison escape warrant out of Georgia. He was finally
released in January.
But Mr. Coney praised Mr. Dejean for one thing acting quickly to make
copies of legal documents when his case was stalled in federal court
because his motion was filed without the required 13 copies. Mr. Dejean
rushed to make extra copies and got the case back on track. Mr. Coney said
he appreciates Mr. Dejean's work.
"He played a role, and he was sincere about helping me when I needed help
on doing minor matters," Mr. Coney said. But he added, "He was not the
catalyst or instrument in my appeal that most people have been made to
believe."
In the spotlight
Mr. Dejean has found himself in the public eye several times. In 1996,
while still in jail, he testified during a Dallas capital murder trial
that a cellmate had confessed to paying gang members to kill another man.
When a gunman opened fire at the Smith County courthouse in Tyler in
February, Mr. Dejean happened to be at the courthouse that day on
business. He described the drama to TV reporters at the scene.
Since his recent troubles began, Mr. Dejean has been far less in the
limelight and even a little difficult to find.
Clients demanding service or a refund continue visiting his office, only
to turn around when they see the lights turned off and the mail piled up
beyond the glass-front faade.
"People come into my office looking for him, angry," said attorney Lena
Levario, whose office is across the hall.
WHAT THEY CAN DO
Attorneys are licensed professionals with authority to solve problems for
their clients. They can:
-Give legal advice on business and personal decisions.
-Represent clients before a judge.
-Do everything a paralegal can do.
Paralegals increasingly handle many of the research and support tasks
traditionally handled by attorneys, including:
-Investigating facts of a case.
-Performing legal research.
-Preparing reports, legal motions and contracts.
-They cannot give legal advice or appear before a judge unless assisting
an attorney.
(source: Dallas Morning News research)
(source for both: Dallas Morning News)
***********************
Staying awake at trial hard for all concerned
The judge started a coffee habit just to keep from drifting off.
A juror, lawyer and journalist regularly close their eyes.
And a court officer once actually had to jostle awake a guy in the front
row.
No, the Enron Internet trial can't be confused with a swashbuckling
adventure movie. It's not like a page-turning thriller. This is No-Doz
country.
Sleeping in a courtroom is hardly without legal precedent, however.
A snoozing criminal lawyer caused a capital murder case to be overturned,
snoring jurors have been known to disrupt proceedings, and numerous little
laughable and not-so-laughable incidents have occurred because what
happens in court isn't like what's seen on TV.
Most of it - sometimes as much as 90 % of courtroom proceedings - can be
overwhelmingly dull. It's usually still important, if not critical to a
case, but that doesn't always make it stimulating.
"The average person doesn't realize how tedious evidence can be," said
Nancy King, a law professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Law.
King surveyed hundreds of judges about 10 years ago. When asked about
sleeping jurors, 69 % of the jurists said they'd had a juror nod off in
the previous 3 years.
The judges, she said, usually left it up to the lawyers to deal with the
dozer. "After all, it was (the lawyers) that put the juror to sleep," King
wrote of the judicial attitude.
When one of the defense lawyers in the Enron Internet trial - which
entered its 10th week Monday - asked U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore
what to do if a juror naps, she, like other judges, said it's the lawyers'
problem.
"That's y'alls problem. That means the case is boring," she told attorney
Jack Zimmermann well before the technology-heavy Enron Broadband Services
case entered its 3rd month. "I can barely stay awake. I don't even drink
coffee, and I'm drinking it every day."
King said there are a lot of steps judges can take to try to keep
courtroom denizens alert - take frequent breaks, limit witness testimony,
let jurors take notes and keep the room cold. It's often quite chilly in
the Enron trial, by the way.
Watch the Houston lawyers David Berg and Daryl Bristow recall a loud noise
waking a juror in a 4-month trial in 1996 that was related to a nuclear
power plant and heavy on science.
"We were cross-examining one of our nuclear scientists when we heard an
incredibly loud noise, and one of our jurors simply disappeared," Berg
said. "Everyone was startled."
Berg said they noticed the juror pop back up from the floor and pick up
the remains of his chair, which, as he tipped backward, had broken in 2.
The man sheepishly announced he had fallen asleep.
The lawyers, on opposite sides of the case, less sheepishly blame each
other. "I'm going to take the position that it was Berg who put the juror
to sleep," Bristow said.
Berg replied that he hoped it was Bristow.
There are plenty of news reports about jurors sleeping, jurors snoring and
judges nodding off. Sometimes jurors miss so much testimony or sleep so
brazenly that they are replaced with alternates.
In the Enron-related Arthur Andersen obstruction of justice shredding
trial in 2002, some Houston jurors complained that other jurors were
regularly sleeping and so confused they didn't really know what the case
was about. One sleeper thought it had something to do with NASA. It
didn't.
"It's easy to fall asleep in a courtroom," said David Dow, a professor at
the University of Houston Law Center. "I tell students that trials are
like wars - long, long periods of boredom, punctuated by intermittent
exciting and frenetic activity."
As an example, Dow looked back to the O.J. Simpson murder case, which was
televised for months. Most people probably remember no testimony beyond
the glove and the Mark Fuhrman racial slur.
Dow doubts that many remember the examination of the blood experts, for
instance.
"Because it's mind-numbing doesn't mean it isn't important. But sitting
through the actual proceeding takes great concentration," he said.
No laughing matter. Sleeping in court is not always forgivable, said Dow,
who watches death row cases and knows of 3 Texas cases in which defense
lawyers slept during trials.
One man with a sleeping lawyer, Carl Johnson, was executed. Another,
Calvin Burdine, had the same dozing lawyer, and finally saw his case sent
back for retrial. He entered into a plea deal to get off death row.
In a 3rd pending case, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals told George
Edward McFarland just last month that he would not get a new trial,
although one of his attorneys frequently slept and even admitted, "I'm 72
years old; I customarily take a short nap in the afternoon."
Sleeping jurors and lawyers could become a thing of the past, thanks to
technology.
Not only can PowerPoint presentations, videos and fancy graphics help make
legal messages more palatable, but one ex-judge said e-mail helps, too.
(source: Knight Ridder News)
