Once again the San Benito County injustice system has managed to
dumbfound me. Members of the District Attorney’s Office neither
fessed-up nor covered-up, instead, they went straight to denial
stating that the DA’s Office was not
”
… trying to drag the case out or unfairly prosecute
Orabuena…
”
Dear Editor:
Once again the San Benito County injustice system has managed to dumbfound me. Members of the District Attorney’s Office neither fessed-up nor covered-up, instead, they went straight to denial stating that the DA’s Office was not “… trying to drag the case out or unfairly prosecute Orabuena…”
Your article dated July 31, titled “Tests put twist in murder charge” had a photograph of Robert Orabuena with a short blurb explaining the Department of Justice testing determined there was no alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the accident.
In the real world, beyond the reach of San Benito County justice, the test results would have been enough to end the saga; the District Attorney would’ve dismissed the DUI murder and manslaughter charges and Mr. Orabuena, after a month in jail, would have been released from custody.
Not so in San Benito County. Dissatisfied with the final test results, District Attorney John Sarsfield requested additional drug testing for “trace amounts” of other drugs. Question: What are you going to do when the next final test results come back negative? Answer: Go through a preliminary hearing even though there were no drugs or alcohol in the defendant’s system and no other evidence of a crime. This is the coward’s way out John; you created this mess. Now, do the right thing and clean it up.
I have been asked often why I would defend a man I don’t even know? Its not Mr. Orabuena that I’m defending, it’s our inalienable rights as citizens of the United States that I support and defend. I’m no Rhodes Scholar, nor am I an attorney, but I know the Constitution affords us rights that are not being provided to Mr. Orabuena: such as competent legal counsel, a right to a speedy trial and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
Having said that, it appears attorney Art Cantu has picked up the gauntlet ripped from the hands of Greg LaForge by Judge Sanders and is valiantly fighting for his newly appointed client.
If we law-abiding citizens don’t draw the line now and fight for Robert Orabuena’s Constitutional rights, there may come a time when one of us could be sitting behind bars for a crime we didn’t commit while an overzealous prosecutor and an out-of-control justice system run amok. This could happen to any of us.
In closing, to the CHP, John Sarsfield and Denny Wei, I say, you can run but you can’t hide from responsibility for this fiasco. All of you have explaining to do as to how this could’ve happened. I’m in hopes that our community will hold all of you accountable. As I said before, will it be fess-up or cover-up?
Bruce Kiefert,
Hollister
