Drug charges against three men accused of running a
”
super lab
”
in San Juan Bautista were dismissed because they may not have
been advised of their rights.
Drug charges against three men accused of running a “super lab” in San Juan Bautista were dismissed because they may not have been advised of their rights.
Criminal drug manufacturing charges against Octavio Guadalupe Abad, 38; Francisco Moroyoqui Diaz, 71; and Jesus Torres, 21, were dropped during a hearing Tuesday when it was determined that arresting officers could not prove they had advised the suspects of their Miranda rights, local defense attorney said.
“The UNET Officer who was called to testify, could not establish that he gave each of the defendants their Miranda rights,” attorney Harry Damkar said. “The prosecution decided to dismiss the case and possibly refile against them at a later date.”
According to court procedures, suspects who are arrested must be advised of their rights before they can be questioned. With only a few exceptions, statements made by subjects under arrest are not considered admissible in court as evidence unless the person has been advised and understands their Miranda rights.
Because a person can not be tried twice for the same crime under the double jeopardy rule, prosecutors decided rather than possibly lose the case with insufficient testimony, they could dismiss the current charges and refile within days and rearrest the suspects to start the prosecution anew.
“I was pleased that the DA’s office dismissed charges against my client because I believe the evidence will show my client had nothing to do with any drug-making operation,” said Damkar, who recently retired as the county’s district attorney.
Damkar, who was appointed to represent Torres, joins attorneys Greg LaForge and Arthur Cantu who are representing the other two co-defendants.
Cantu, who is representing Diaz, said the District Attorney’s office is seeking after the wrong people for the methamphetamine lab discovered at 482 Olympia Road.
“The person who owned the house, who was in charge of the house and who was found to be the main dealer, was let go by the DA,” Cantu said.
He said the Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team had arrested Jose Vidrio, 59, of 181 Southside Drive in San Jose, and developed information indicating that he allowed the production of methamphetamine to take place at the residence.
“Meth is probably the most serious crime problem in this county,” Cantu said. “It is inexcusable that the main dealer was not charged in this crime.”
Cantu said there was enough evidence to prove Vidrio is the person prosecutors should focus their effort on.
“We’re confident that when all is revealed, they will find that the person who they let get away is the one responsible for this,” Cantu said.
Prosecutors could not be reached for comment by presstime this morning.
Abad, Diaz and Torres are currently being held in San Benito County Jail in lieu of $200,000 each.
They were arrested Feb. 21 when sheriff’s deputies reportedly discovered the drug lab at about 9 p.m. when they arrived at Olympia Road to serve a $10,000 arrest warrant on a woman who supposedly lived there.
However, when deputies entered the home, they began talking to Abad, Diaz, Torres and an unidentified fourth man fled on foot when he saw deputies approaching.
Deputies chased the man through a nearby orchard but he is still at large.
Abad, Diaz and Torres gave deputies permission to search inside the home for the woman on their warrant. As deputies searched the home, they saw a number of suspicious items that resembled materials used to make methamphetamine.
A deputy sergeant called UNET, which drug agents confirmed, and deputies remained on the property while drug agents got a search warrant.
UNET, along with members of the Department of Justice’s South Bay Methamphetamine Task Force and the DOJ’s Crime Lab, conducted a search and reportedly discovered 25 to 30 gallons of methamphetamine being manufactured in a barn behind the house, a 12-gauge shotgun and a revolver, according to court records.
