Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo Falcon Hernandez

[voivod]

Posted on 03/19/2007 11:17:15 AM PDT

DEL RIO — A federal judge sentenced former Edwards County Sheriff Deputy Guillermo (Gilmer) F. Hernandez to a year and a day in jail this morning for shooting at a fleeing vehicle transporting undocumented immigrants and injuring one of its passengers.

Although U.S. District Judge Robert T. Dawson denied pleas from Hernandez and his lawyer for probation, the judge did deviate from federal sentencing guidelines that made the former deputy eligible to be sentenced to up to 9 years in prison.

Hernandez’s attorney Jimmy Parks Jr. expressed mixed emotions afterward.

“I’m so appreciative of that,” Parks said of the judge’s more lenient sentence. “But as an advocate and friend of Gilmer’s, I didn’t want to see him spend any day in jail.”

Hernandez’s case gained nationwide attention after a federal jury convicted him Dec. 1 of violating the civil rights of a Mexican woman who was being smuggled into the country along with several other undocumented immigrants in a Chevrolet Suburban.

After pulling the Suburban over on a traffic stop in April 2005, Hernandez fired several shots at the vehicle when the driver attempted to flee. Maricela Rodriguez-Garcia suffered a facial wound.

Hernandez’s attorneys argued the deputy was trying to protect himself, fearing the vehicle might turn on him. Prosecutors claimed otherwise, saying the deputy faced no eminent threat and abused the “color of law.”

This morning, more than 100 residents from Hernandez’s hometown of Rocksprings gathered outside the federal courthouse in Del Rio to show their support.

They carried signs saying, “Free Gilmer,” and “Please Let Gilmer Come Home.”

Hernandez has been held in jail without bond since his December conviction.


Parks said Hernandez will get credit for the 110 days he has been in jail and is eligible to receive credit for good behavior since the judge sentenced him to a day more than a year in jail.

Parks said Hernandez could be freed in about six months.

Speech given by Congressman Ted Poe before the House in Washington, DC -

Deputy Gilmer Hernandez

Mr. Speaker, in the small border town of Rocksprings, Texas, where drug smugglers and human smugglers sneak across the Rio Grande into America, lone Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was on patrol. In the stillness of the vast night, a speeding Suburban runs a red light. Deputy Hernandez, 25, stops the vehicle, but suddenly, without warning, the vehicle takes off. Deputy Hernandez says the vehicle tried to run him down. The lawman fires several shots, one of which shoots out the rear tire, just like in the movies.

The vehicle stops, and eight or nine illegals jump out and take off running into the sagebrush. One illegal had a minor injury from a bullet. The U.S. Government rounds up six or seven of the illegals and, guess what, prosecutes Deputy Hernandez, claiming he recklessly discharged his firearm and uses the illegals as witnesses against the lawman during a trial.

Citizens of his town are mad. One said, ``Our deputy's in jail for doing his job.''

Mr. Speaker, another example of how the Federal Government is more concerned about people illegally invading America than it is about the men who protect America. Once again, our government is on the wrong side of the border war.

And that's just the way it is.
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The Rocksprings Record has published a story concerning the conviction of Edwards County Sheriff's Deputy Gilmer Hernandez who faces sentencing in March for injuring an illegal female immigrant that was a passenger in a vehicle that attempted to run over the deputy.

As Editor Carolyn Anderson puts it, "Many here question why this law officer was ever even charged for doing his job".

The following is an excerpt from the article detailing a recent letter by the county sheriff expressing his viewpoints of the trial:

"Your Honor, I have served the enforcement of the law and the protection of the public for 25 years, 15 of them as an elected Sheriff. I have been cross-designated with the DEA. I was the Task Force Officer and case agent in the prosecution of a Conspiracy to Traffic Narcotics in violation of Federal Statutes. I fully understand the need to protect the rights of all individuals, especially the rights of the accused. I understand the need to defend the rule of law and the Constitution. I understand the need for 18 USC § 242, Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law. I also understand the Doctrine of Self-defense from the use and threatened use of deadly force.

I have always believed that those of us that protect and defend the law are obligated to truth. The truth to disclose to a Jury or Grand Jury all the facts, all the evidence, the truth and the whole truth. We must do this even if the guilty are not indicted or found not guilty. Justice is only truly served with the truth.

I cannot begin to explain to anyone my dismay when I was informed of the guilty verdict handed down against Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F. Hernandez. I assure you that I became truly ill. I could have not been any more upset if the verdict had been passed on my own son.

My first thoughts were that the system that I have served for 25 years had failed. For about three days I was ashamed to be part of the law enforcement community that serves and protects the Constitution. Finally I remembered what I already knew. The Grand Jury did not fail, they indicted on the information they were given. The Jury did not fail, they convicted on the evidence presented. The Court did not fail the system. The Court does not control the investigation or the prosecution’s presentation of the facts.

I know that the system only fails when we (law enforcement officers and prosecutors) the protectors of the system fail the system by not disclosing to the jury the whole truth, all the facts and all the evidence. We fail the system when we imply to the jury wrong doing when there is none. When it is implied that evidence was not collected to protect an officer from prosecution. When we know that the policy requires another agency to collect that evidence and the prosecution knew the evidence was collected. We fail the system when we imply to the jury that policy is law. When we know that policy is only a guideline for operations. When we imply before a jury that evidence may have been tampered with. When those of us who know better know that it is a simple thing for the FBI to test a videotape to see if it has been erased or tampered with. We fail the system when an expert witness testifies with words like “There were four shots fired and maybe six.” When we posture before the jury with implications that we do not believe the integrity of a witness when we know the witness is honorable and truthful. We fail the system when we know a witness for the government has made false statements to investigators and we justify those statements as confusion and we do so for a conviction. We fail the system when we buy witnesses and purchase testimony at the expense of our Statutes.

Your Honor, no man should stand for judgement based on prosecution courtroom antics in the name of advocacy based on false statements and implied evidence. As God is my witness Deputy Hernandez is a good and honorable young man. Deputy Hernandez told the truth when he said the driver of the vehicle tried to run him over. Even the statement of Yvonne Hernandez-Morales supports Deputy Hernandez. “When the officer got to the drivers door the driver took off.” Deputy Hernandez and his wife could have told any story they wanted. Deputy Hernandez was shooting at the tires trying to stop a vehicle whose driver was evading arrest or detention. Deputy Hernandez had every right to arrest and detain the driver of the evading vehicle. Deputy Hernandez did not intentionally harm anyone. Deputy Hernandez is a good enough shot to have placed all the rounds in his weapon right through the back glass of the suburban.

Your Honor, I respectfully request that you sentence Guillermo Falcon Hernandez to time served and release him from custody. Sincerely, Don G. Letsinger, Sheriff, Edwards County
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[Elwood P.]

Thanks for posting that. Case should have never seen the inside of a courthouse, much less a conviction.

[Dennis]

I saw a report on him on America's Most Wanted.....he definitely got screwed in all this.

[chefcraig]

I saw a report on him on America's Most Wanted.....he definitely got screwed in all this.

The Lou Dobbs special on CNN the other evening leads one to think otherwise. There still is the matter of the officers trying to obfuscate the truth of what happened initially.

I still question the practicality of giving the drug dealer immunity. That's simply warped.

[Elwood P.]

I still question the practicality of giving the drug dealer immunity. That's simply warped.

Well if you're referring to the Border Patrol agents from El Paso, Ramos and Campean, it wasn't just immunity they gave the drug dealer. Taxpayer-provided hospital care, a visa to cross back and forth across the Border, all of which led to him filing a $5 million lawsuit against the U.S. He'll probably get a large chunk of that, out-of-court of course. What a country!

[MEANBEE]

how do you violate the civil rights of a non citizen. I