Post by WaTcHeR on May 23, 2006 9:12:56 GMT -5
05/23/2006 - Repercussions from information that the Waxahachie Police Department has conducted an internal affairs investigation relating to a murder/arson case are beginning to surface.
Local defense attorney Mark Griffith said he hadn’t been aware that such an investigation was going on - or that an officer, Sgt. Ricky Wilson, had been disciplined.
Griffith described the circumstances as “very disturbing, both as a criminal defense attorney and as a citizen.”
“An officer (Wilson) shows evidence and speaks to a suspect - a fellow police officer - during a very serious criminal investigation, and gives him a warning about what is going to happen,” Griffith said. “This brings up the question: Was the warning by the one officer to the other so that valuable evidence could be destroyed?
“Any civilian who had done what some of these officers did would in jail. I have no doubt about that,” Griffith said. “I have no doubt that this double standard creates a serious lack of confidence in the agency - this double standard is deplorable and dangerous.”
Four people have been arrested and charged in relation to the October 2005 murder/arson case, including Daniel Hernandez Jr., 23, of Fort Worth, who is facing a murder charge. He is represented by Griffith.
Also charged are Abimael Sanchez, 30, of Garland, who is charged murder, arson and tampering with physical evidence; Randy Hernandez, 30, of Dallas, who is charged with murder, arson and tampering with physical evidence; and former Waxahachie police officer Dennis Hickman, 30, of Waxahachie, who is charged with arson.
Hickman was employed by the Cockrell Hill Police Department at the time of the incident but left that agency in November as the investigation was under way.
According to documentation obtained under the Open Records Act, Police Chief Charles Shaffer suspended Wilson, 38, a 13-year veteran and a director of the local police association, for seven days for warning Hickman that investigators were coming to talk to him. Shaffer also agreed with the investigation’s findings that Wilson told Hickman there was an outstanding class C warrant that the investigators could use to go ahead and take him into custody.
Shaffer, however, exonerated Wilson of showing crime scene photographs to Hickman, saying that it is common practice for one officer to show another officer evidence.
The case began Oct. 2 when Waxahachie police and fire responded to a call of a vehicle on fire in a local cemetery. A body was discovered in the vehicle after the fire was put out, with the victim later identified as Miguel Angel Martinez, 30, of Dallas, who knew several of the defendants. An autopsy determined Martinez was stabbed to death prior to his body being burned in the vehicle.
“A terrible and dangerous double standard obviously exists that is being supported by the top man in the department,” Griffith said. “Seven days off work is appalling. It appears that portions - and I say portions because I know good officers in that department - have forgotten their oath and are under the impression that the law only applies to others and not to them.”
Griffith said the internal affairs investigation has raised serious questions now about the murder/arson case.
“The way I read it is one officer is warning another officer who obviously has participated in a major crime and giving that officer a chance to hide, destroy or change evidence that might now put finding the truth in jeopardy,” Griffith said. “I would hope, obviously as a criminal defense attorney and also as a citizen, that some disinterested outside agency and/or person come in and do an investigation because it’s obvious now that the top man over there is more interested in protecting his officer than in crafting a department that the citizens can have confidence in.”
Griffith predicts far-reaching effects from the internal affairs investigation, noting there is now concern for any case Wilson is involved with.
“Obviously bending or breaking the rules is not a problem for him, so what confidence can we have on any other case?” Griffith asked. “The credibility of a witness, whether it’s a police officer or a lay person is always a key. … The question is, ‘Is he out there seeking the truth or is he doing things that benefit himself or his friends, i.e., his fellow police officers?”
In documents obtained relating to the internal affairs investigation, Shaffer acknowledges that Wilson’s actions damaged the Waxahachie Police Department’s credibility and have been a source of turmoil within the department.
“His lack of truthfulness in the investigation is by itself adequate cause for me to recommend indefinite suspension in this matter,” Shaffer wrote, noting however that a disciplinary review board made an “overly lenient recommendation” and that there were “political circumstances” in the police department the latter part of 2005.
He said, therefore, he would not take action to indefinitely suspend nor would he demote Wilson.
“I believe that Sgt. Wilson exhibited terrible judgment in this matter,” Shaffer wrote. “Yet I believe he has the ability to rebound from it and be a valued supervisor. Only time will tell if I have made the right decision in choosing to be lenient.”
Messages left Friday for Wilson and his attorney were not returned by press time. Wilson has appealed the chief’s decision.
Local defense attorney Mark Griffith said he hadn’t been aware that such an investigation was going on - or that an officer, Sgt. Ricky Wilson, had been disciplined.
Griffith described the circumstances as “very disturbing, both as a criminal defense attorney and as a citizen.”
“An officer (Wilson) shows evidence and speaks to a suspect - a fellow police officer - during a very serious criminal investigation, and gives him a warning about what is going to happen,” Griffith said. “This brings up the question: Was the warning by the one officer to the other so that valuable evidence could be destroyed?
“Any civilian who had done what some of these officers did would in jail. I have no doubt about that,” Griffith said. “I have no doubt that this double standard creates a serious lack of confidence in the agency - this double standard is deplorable and dangerous.”
Four people have been arrested and charged in relation to the October 2005 murder/arson case, including Daniel Hernandez Jr., 23, of Fort Worth, who is facing a murder charge. He is represented by Griffith.
Also charged are Abimael Sanchez, 30, of Garland, who is charged murder, arson and tampering with physical evidence; Randy Hernandez, 30, of Dallas, who is charged with murder, arson and tampering with physical evidence; and former Waxahachie police officer Dennis Hickman, 30, of Waxahachie, who is charged with arson.
Hickman was employed by the Cockrell Hill Police Department at the time of the incident but left that agency in November as the investigation was under way.
According to documentation obtained under the Open Records Act, Police Chief Charles Shaffer suspended Wilson, 38, a 13-year veteran and a director of the local police association, for seven days for warning Hickman that investigators were coming to talk to him. Shaffer also agreed with the investigation’s findings that Wilson told Hickman there was an outstanding class C warrant that the investigators could use to go ahead and take him into custody.
Shaffer, however, exonerated Wilson of showing crime scene photographs to Hickman, saying that it is common practice for one officer to show another officer evidence.
The case began Oct. 2 when Waxahachie police and fire responded to a call of a vehicle on fire in a local cemetery. A body was discovered in the vehicle after the fire was put out, with the victim later identified as Miguel Angel Martinez, 30, of Dallas, who knew several of the defendants. An autopsy determined Martinez was stabbed to death prior to his body being burned in the vehicle.
“A terrible and dangerous double standard obviously exists that is being supported by the top man in the department,” Griffith said. “Seven days off work is appalling. It appears that portions - and I say portions because I know good officers in that department - have forgotten their oath and are under the impression that the law only applies to others and not to them.”
Griffith said the internal affairs investigation has raised serious questions now about the murder/arson case.
“The way I read it is one officer is warning another officer who obviously has participated in a major crime and giving that officer a chance to hide, destroy or change evidence that might now put finding the truth in jeopardy,” Griffith said. “I would hope, obviously as a criminal defense attorney and also as a citizen, that some disinterested outside agency and/or person come in and do an investigation because it’s obvious now that the top man over there is more interested in protecting his officer than in crafting a department that the citizens can have confidence in.”
Griffith predicts far-reaching effects from the internal affairs investigation, noting there is now concern for any case Wilson is involved with.
“Obviously bending or breaking the rules is not a problem for him, so what confidence can we have on any other case?” Griffith asked. “The credibility of a witness, whether it’s a police officer or a lay person is always a key. … The question is, ‘Is he out there seeking the truth or is he doing things that benefit himself or his friends, i.e., his fellow police officers?”
In documents obtained relating to the internal affairs investigation, Shaffer acknowledges that Wilson’s actions damaged the Waxahachie Police Department’s credibility and have been a source of turmoil within the department.
“His lack of truthfulness in the investigation is by itself adequate cause for me to recommend indefinite suspension in this matter,” Shaffer wrote, noting however that a disciplinary review board made an “overly lenient recommendation” and that there were “political circumstances” in the police department the latter part of 2005.
He said, therefore, he would not take action to indefinitely suspend nor would he demote Wilson.
“I believe that Sgt. Wilson exhibited terrible judgment in this matter,” Shaffer wrote. “Yet I believe he has the ability to rebound from it and be a valued supervisor. Only time will tell if I have made the right decision in choosing to be lenient.”
Messages left Friday for Wilson and his attorney were not returned by press time. Wilson has appealed the chief’s decision.