A local attorney is making a federal case out of alleged
evidence tampering at the Hollister Police Department by calling
for an FBI investigation.
Hollister defense attorney Arthur Cantu asked the FBI to conduct
a civil-rights investigation based on allegations of tampering with
evidence, denial of equal protection, denial of due process and
destruction of evidence.
A local attorney is making a federal case out of alleged evidence tampering at the Hollister Police Department by calling for an FBI investigation.
Hollister defense attorney Arthur Cantu asked the FBI to conduct a civil-rights investigation based on allegations of tampering with evidence, denial of equal protection, denial of due process and destruction of evidence.
“I’m certain that someone broke the law, but the only way to get to the bottom of this is to conduct an investigation,” Cantu said.
A spokesman with the FBI’s San Francisco office confirmed that Cantu had been in touch with their office but said that he would neither confirm nor deny if the FBI is conducting an investigation.
Cantu is accusing the police department of interfering with the defense of his client, Albert Rodriguez Solorio, and alleged the department tampered with a video tape recording showing the events surrounding a July 1, 2002 struggle between Solorio and Sgt. Greg Thul that left both men seriously injured.
Police Chief Larry Todd said although he was not in office at the time of the incident, he does not believe there has been any mishandled evidence within the department.
Part of Cantu’s concerns that the video tape had been tampered with is that there is only 15 seconds of images on the tape.
“It’s not that there was only 10 or 15 seconds filmed, but the actual physical length of the tape is 10 or 15 seconds long,” Cantu said. “Now, who makes a VCR tape that is only 10 or 15 seconds long?”
Cantu also said he has a witness who says footage was deleted from the video tape.
“I have a witness who can testify that footage was removed from the video tape,” he said.
Cantu said the witness is the person who recorded the struggle, but was forced to surrender the tape to police under threat of arrest.
He said police seized the tape after the incident nearly a year ago but did not tell anyone they had it.
Cantu has also filed a motion with the court asking that the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office be removed from the prosecution of Solorio.
“The state Attorney General’s Office will handle that hearing, which I believe is set for Aug. 5,” District Attorney John Sarsfield said.
Cantu said the district attorney’s office knew about the altered video tape but did not turn over a copy of it to the defense, as required by law.
“There is paperwork here that shows the tape was logged into evidence on May 29, that was two days after I requested the tape in court and prosecutors said there was no such tape,” Cantu said.
Sarsfield said his office has not withheld evidence from Cantu and that his office is not part of any alleged conspiracy against Solorio.
“This is just more of the same stuff that he said before,” Sarsfield said.
Solorio was arrested on July 1, 2002 following an alleged struggle with Thul that sent both men through a plate-glass window. The incident occurred when Thul was answering a call for a possible domestic dispute at an apartment near the intersection of Sunnyslope and Valley View roads.
Police said Thul entered the downstairs apartment and contacted a distraught woman, believing the immediate danger was over.
However, while Thul was talking to the woman in an attempt to find out what happened, Solorio allegedly entered from a back room and physically confronted Thul, police said.
The two men reportedly struggled for a few minutes and their fight carried both men toward a large window, police said.
Cantu also said police are trying to use his client as a scapegoat for a lack of diligence by claiming Solorio escaped from custody after he was arrested and taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center for treatment.
“My client did not escape. After three days, police removed the guards watching his room, so when he was released from the hospital five days later, he just went home,” Cantu said.
