The El Paso District Attorney’s Office improperly directed the alteration of court records as it prepared to appeal the dismissal of dozens of cases against migrants charged with rioting when they entered the country earlier this year, a judge ruled this week.
“The State’s failure to notify the trial Court that the Certification Order had been altered, and its refusal to respond to requests for a hearing by the Defense to ensure that the record that was transmitted to the Court of Appeals was correct, indicate that the State was not and is not acting in good faith to ensure an accurate record,” County Court at Law 7 Judge Ruben Morales wrote in an order issued late Wednesday. “The lack of good faith by the State is further evidenced by its refusal to cooperate with the trial Court in setting this matter for an evidentiary hearing and its reluctance to participate in the hearing.”
He ordered that the altered record be removed from the hearing record provided to the 8th Court of Appeals, which could make it more difficult for prosecutors to challenge Morales’ June 6 decision to dismiss charges against migrants who were arrested as part of Texas’ Operation Lone Star, which seeks to deter illegal entry into the United States and use state charges to prosecute those who do.
The El Paso case involves 59 migrants who were charged with misdemeanor counts of riot stemming from attempts to enter the United States in March. Initially, more than 200 migrants were charged and Morales dismissed all of the charges.
The District Attorney’s Office obtained misdemeanor indictments against 59 of the migrants shortly after the dismissal, but Morales again ordered the charges dismissed, saying his court didn’t have jurisdiction. In preparing a court record to appeal the dismissals, prosecutors directed the El Paso County Clerk’s Office to alter a key document, the judge ruled Wednesday.
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District Attorney Bill Hicks said he wouldn’t respond on Thursday because it was his birthday. Chief Public Defender Kelli Childress, whose office represents the migrants, could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Morales is the second judge this month to rule that the District Attorney’s Office had acted improperly in pursuing criminal charges. On Dec. 9, 394th District Judge Roy Ferguson ruled that the District Attorney’s Office had repeatedly withheld evidence from defense attorneys in five cases in Hudspeth and Culberson counties.
In his ruling Wednesday, Morales said a member of the County Clerk’s Office altered a record at the request of Assistant District Attorney Jennifer VandenBosch.
The record in question was a May 21 order from the 120th District Court, where the grand jury handed up the 59 indictments, transferring the the county courts, which hear misdemeanor cases. The order said the cases to be transferred were listed on the attached “Exhibit A,” but no such attachment was provided with the order.
Morales dismissed the charges from the indictment June 6, saying his court didn’t have
jurisdiction because the transfer order didn’t list specific cases.
Prosecutors appealed his decision to the 8th Court of Appeals in El Paso, and the Public Defender’s Office alleged that the record sent to the appellate court of the dismissal hearing had been altered to add the missing attachment to the order transferring the case to county courts.
Morales had three days of hearings in November and December at the direction of the appeals court to determine if the court record had been altered and by whom. An official court record can only be legally changed with a judge’s order.
In his ruling Wednesday, Morales found that the record filed with the appeals court did include the attachment with the cases to be transferred, and that the attachment was added by the County Clerk’s Office at the direction of VandenBosch.
“After the plea to the jurisdiction hearing on June 6, 2024 was concluded, assistant district attorneys Preston Munson, Ballard Shapleigh, and Jennifer VandenBosch had discussions among themselves regarding the fact that the Certification Order did not have an attachment and failed to identify any cases to be transferred,” Morales found.
Diannia Leyva, an employee of the County Clerk’s Office, said VandenBosch called her on June 6 to say the list of specific cases should have been attached to the transfer order. Leyva said Cheryl Villa of the clerk’s office told her the transfer order did not include the attachment when it was filed.
“On the afternoon of June 6, 2024, the county clerk’s office added the eight-page ‘True Bill List’ to the Certification Order filed in each of the 59 cases. The addition or alteration occurred without notice to the Defendants, Defense counsel, or the trial Court,” the judge wrote.
“At the evidentiary hearing, Ms. VandenBosch acknowledged that the true bill list was not labeled Exhibit A and that she never filed a motion to amend or a motion to correct the alleged misfiling, even though she was familiar with the process,” Morales wrote.
Morales’ ruling said the Public Defender’s Office sent three emails to prosecutors and the court in July saying that the record filed with the appeals court had been altered and asking that it be corrected, but the District Attorney’s Office never responded.
The migrants facing riot charges were released from jail after the June 6 ruling and were turned over to federal immigration officials to face illegal entry charges or proceedings to remove them from the United States.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The post El Paso DA’s Office altered court record in appeal of migrant riot case dismissals, judge rules appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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