Editorial: An odd approach to criminal justice
Count us among those who can’t look at Willacy County lately without a sense of puzzlement.
There are days when the feuding county officials exchanging allegations — sexual, financial and otherwise — leave us amused.
But the latest controversy surrounding the Willacy County District Attorney’s Office is anything but amusing.
On Thursday, District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra forced the release of capital murder suspect Wendy Gill by refusing to present evidence against her at a hearing before Justice of the Peace Juan Silva.
Guerra had been trying to get Gill freed since the middle of last month, claiming that he wanted her released so she could get a psychological evaluation at a state hospital. When Silva balked at his demand that her bail be reduced from $1 million to a much more manageable $5,000, Guerra responded by ending his efforts to prosecute her.
Gill, 18, was arrested in June and sheriff’s department investigators said she confessed that she had smothered her newborn baby, wrapped it in towels and left it in a trash bag on the floor of her family’s Lyford home.
Sheriff’s department officials said that she had hid the pregnancy out of fear that she would be thrown out of the house, while her mother told a Star reporter that Gill “was not in her right mind when she did that.”
We don’t doubt that there are mental illness issues when it comes to Gill; the nature of the alleged crime speaks to that. But that is not a sufficient reason to let her go free.
Criminal suspects are required to post bond to ensure that they show up for their trial and bonds are set prohibitively high for two main reasons. One is to prevent them from harming others while awaiting trial and the other is to prevent them from fleeing the area and evading justice.
Gill doesn’t pose a threat to anyone except, perhaps, herself, but she does represent a significant flight risk. She lives close to the Mexican border, is a Mexican citizen and is facing very serious criminal charges.
We don’t see any reason that Gill could not have received psychological evaluation and treatment while in custody. Surely she is not Willacy County’s first criminal suspect to need this.
But now the capital murder charges have been dropped and whether Gill ever will have her day in court is anybody’s guess. The criminal justice system in Willacy County has turned so dysfunctional that we’re not making any predictions.
Willacy County isn’t the only place where suspected killers are turned loose, however.
Earlier this year in Cameron County, District Court Judge Abel Limas gave convicted murderer Amit Livingston 60 days to get his “affairs in order.” To nobody’s surprise, with the exception of Limas, Livingston hasn’t been seen since.
For some reason, those charged with administering justice here in the Valley don’t know that, to people facing lengthy prison terms — Livingston was sentenced to 23 years behind bars — the primary affair to be put in order is to get as far away as possible from those who will take away your freedom.
