MOLESTATION CASE TAKES CENTER STAGE:
"He was ill-prepared to handle this case." So says a source in the law enforcement community on District Attorney Paul Gallegos' handling of the case of Pedro Martinez-Hernandez, the 39-year-old Ferndale man arrested on Christmas Eve last year on charges of continuously molesting a minor for eight years. Martinez-Hernandez, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison last week, has since become a major issue in the drive to recall Paul Gallegos. And when an internal report by Deputy DA Wes Keat was leaked to the press early this week, the fire Gallegos was drawing over the case got a whole lot hotter. Keat's report -- called a "felony filing evaluation" -- was written shortly after the defendant was arrested. In it, Keat writes, "It's probably going to turn out that there are a lot of stackable 288b's [sex offense counts] that can get him into the century club" -- or 100 years in prison. That's precisely how pro-recall replacement candidate Gloria Albin Sheets has been saying the case should have been prosecuted. Shortly after the arrest, Martinez-Hernandez was charged with one count of "continuous sexual abuse" of his daughter, and that was what he eventually pleaded guilty to. But according to Jim Kucharek, head of the county's Child Support Services Department and a Gallegos critic, such cases are usually amended with additional charges upon receipt of additional information from the police agency and the county's Child Abuse Services Team. That information -- which the law enforcement source said included physical evidence corroborating the victim's claims of abuse and testimony from a witness -- was handed to the DA's office well before Jan. 6, the date Gallegos appeared in court on the case. Gallegos also had Keat's felony filing evaluation. Nevertheless, Gallegos allowed the defendant to plead guilty to the single charge rather than asking the judge to amend the case to include the "stackable 288b's" that would have presumably given the defendant a much longer sentence. Late Tuesday, Gallegos defended his decision by reiterating that based on his conversations with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Martinez-Hernandez would be released into federal custody, and would face immigration charges, after serving his 16-year sentence. But he did seem to acknowledge that his handling of the case might be open to criticism. "The fact of the matter is, if we didn't do as much as the little girl would have liked I certainly would apologize to her," he said. "We don't always make the right decision on cases -- there's just too many decisions to make. But every decision in that office, good or bad, I'm responsible for. And I take full responsibility."
RELATED STORIES:
TS - Plea bargain made with molester - Jan 24, 2004
TS - Gallegos responds to molester's plea - Jan 27, 2004
TS - Albin Sheets accuses Gallegos of incompetence - Jan, 2004
NCJ - MOLESTATION CASE TAKES CENTER STAGE:
...a copy of this article is also at watchpaul-articles
TS - Investigating deputy speaks out on molest case - Feb 13, 2004
Gallegos v. Martinez-Hernandez
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