A local defense attorney’s claim that the Hollister Police
Department may have withheld or possibly tampered with evidence
earned a little more credibility Tuesday.
A local defense attorney’s claim that the Hollister Police Department may have withheld or possibly tampered with evidence earned a little more credibility Tuesday.
Acting on a request from Hollister defense attorney Arthur Cantu, the police department reportedly turned over copies of all the materials related to the arrest and investigation of his client Albert Rodriguez Solorio.
Solorio was arrested on July 1, 2002 following an alleged struggle with Sgt. Greg Thul that sent both men through a plate glass window and to hospitals. The 2:30 p.m. incident reportedly happened when Thul answered a call for a possible domestic dispute at an apartment near the intersection of Sunnyslope and Valley View roads.
Cantu said the box contained supplemental reports and other documents that was never given to him or anyone at his office.
“I know this because there are three lists which itemize all the evidence and reports in a case. The District Attorney has one, I have one and the judge has one,” Cantu said. “But there are items here that are not on my list or the judge’s list.”
One of the items included a document that appears to indicate that police were dropping the charges against Solorio the day after his arrest.
Police said Thul reportedly entered the downstairs apartment and contacted a distraught woman, believing that 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 the fight carried both men toward a large window, police said.
Cantu said the documents also substantiated his suspicion that police were withholding evidence, including a video tape that captured the alleged struggle between Solorio and Thul.
“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.”
Police Chief Larry Todd said although he was not here at the time of the incident, which left both Thul and Solorio seriously injured, he does not believe there has been any mishandled evidence within the department, and that all the reports presented in court Tuesday were available for Cantu if he had asked for them.
Both police and the district attorneys office denied any attempt to withhold evidence or to mislead the defense.
