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| Electronic Sign at International Blvd. and Van Buren Street Asking Justice 4 Randy |
We understand that information is useful in all that we do. Indeed, many of us were taught this from an early age (thank you former Russell/Stell principal, Rachel Ayala, for personally teaching this to your countless students over the years), even if we didn’t apply it.
It was Francis Bacon who coined the phrase “Knowledge is Power” and it was for the purpose of bringing truth to the common people that information and knowledge were not only for the elite, but for all to utilize. A political factor of significant importance now as it was then.
When the media reports on criminal cases it almost always gives only one side of the story, the version provided by the police and the prosecution, even then sometimes that version is conflicting.
In February 2009 when I was charged for the alleged murder of Aaron Castillo, Brownsville PD Sgt. Jimmy Manrique gave a statement to the Brownsville Herald and television news reporters that police were seeking six suspects. When I was finally brought to trial in 2014, prosecutors argued there were now only three people involved. How does this happen, when the very same guy, Agustin Castillo, gave that very statement to the police of six people and also testified to it at my trial?
The firearm Aaron Castillo was shot with was never found, but Agustin Castillo testified it was a handgun, while Rolando Garza testified it was a hunting rifle. That in itself should raise alarm, but they both also gave conflicting testimony as to whether or not they actually saw the shooting.
By the way, Rolando Garza testified that Agustin fled the scene before Garza did, and Garza’s mother gave a statement to the police that Garza confessed to her that he left the scene BEFORE the shooting, yet that statement to the police was never presented by my attorney. Why would such critical exculpatory evidence not be? That being said, how can you convict someone with conflicting evidence of different kinds of weapons being speculated and alleged eyewitnesses changing stories? Brownsville PD detective Ortiz testified that according to his investigation, Rolando Garza did NOT see the shooting. The prosecutor on the case argued that Agustin was a coward who abandoned his baby brother and did NOT see the shooting. If they didn’t see the shooting and there are no eyewitnesses, then how do you convict?
Well, look at what happened when former District Attorney Armando Villalobos sent his assistant to the 105th District Court of Kleburg County, for them to present and prosecute the exact same murder allegation. The presiding judge in that court found the Murder Allegation to be “NOT TRUE” in 2011. Yet through illegal and corrupt acts, the State was able to proceed with prosecution in Violation of the Constitution’s Double Jeopardy Clause under the Doctrine of Collateral Estoppel. I was illegally and wrongfully convicted in 2014, but in 2017 a different judge now presiding in the 105th District Court of Kleburg County once again reaffirmed that the Murder Allegation was “NOT TRUE”!
Had the jury, indeed our entire community, known this, there would be a much different perspective about how the court proceedings were handled. Now that you, the People of Cameron County, have the KNOWLEDGE of these injustices, you possess the POWER to do something about it.
De Oppresso Liber, Randall Bolivar
