Press Coverage

Testimony Backs Innocence Claims Of Pair Convicted In Killing

P. Christine Mills

Avalanche-Journal

A Texas Ranger lied, the state hid evidence and the defense team failed to uncover mitigating facts that could have saved Alberto Sifuentes and Jesus Ramirez from a murder conviction, according to testimony Monday during a hearing that could lead to freedom for the two men.

Sifuentes and Ramirez have each served about seven years in prison in the murder of Evangelina Cruz, a clerk at the Jolly Roger convenience store in Littlefield, on Aug. 6, 1996.

Attorneys for Sifuentes and Ramirez produced a document Monday that they said came from Lamb County District Attorney Mark Yarbrough, who prosecuted the men.

In the document describing witnesses in the cases, Yarbrough wrote of Texas Ranger Sal Abreo, "He was the Ranger in charge. He lied to me to get me to file this case."

Yarbrough did not testify Monday but is expected to testify Wednesday.

Patrick Metze, Sifuentes' court-appointed co-counsel in the trial that led to the guilty verdict, pounced on the document during testimony in 99th District Court, saying that he would have been a more effective defense attorney had he had that information during Sifuentes' 1998 murder trial.

"It's always nice to know that a person who is testifying is lying. I'd like to particularly know what the lie is," Metze said. "That's a pretty specific allegation made by a DA."

Phillip Wischkaemper, the appointed co-counsel who helped defend Ramirez during his 1998 murder trial, also took the stand.

He testified that newly uncovered mitigating evidence should set his former client and the client's co-defendant free. The two men are serving life prison sentences.

Wischkaemper, while on the witness stand, used words like "surprised" and "shocked" to describe his reaction when he said he learned, after a jury convicted his client, that law enforcement's investigation had been skewed and that certain pieces of evidence had been hidden from or missed by him and lead defense attorney David Martinez.

The shooting occurred at 2:08 a.m., and an alibi witness can confirm that she was with the two men at a Lubbock nightclub until 2 a.m., according to the defendants' writs of habeas corpus.

The writs, filed on Sifuentes' and Ramirez's behalf by Dallas law firm Haynes and Boone LLC, are the reason the men have another chance in court this week.

Specifically, Wischkaemper testified that he had heard of a possible alibi witness as he prepared for Ramirez's original trial but did not pursue the lead.

"I can't say I did anything except rely on the reports of the Sifuentes (legal defense) team," Wischkaemper testified.

Sifuentes' lawyers and investigators had heard of the alibi witness and went to the nightclub and talked with the bartender to learn whether the defendants had been there, if they were with anyone and what time they left, he said.

"Did you ever ask anyone on the defense team to try to pursue the alibi witness any further?" asked attorney Ron Breaux of Haynes and Boone.

"No," Wischkaemper replied.

The alibi witness, Pauline Robles, took the stand Monday afternoon and confirmed that she had bumped into Ramirez and two friends at the nightclub one night near the time of the murder. While Robles could not remember the specific date, other testimony Monday revealed that the defendants, from early in the investigation, had talked about a chance meeting between Ramirez and a former girlfriend at the nightclub. Robles said the group stayed at the nightclub until the 2 a.m. closing time.

Wischkaemper also testified that he learned later of problems with the state's two key witnesses who testified in the original trial.

An investigation has since revealed that a woman who placed the men at the scene shortly before the shooting had actually been at the Jolly Roger at 12:30 a.m. and not 2 a.m.

A jailhouse informant who testified that Ramirez confessed the murder to him had three prior state felony convictions, a fact that the state failed to disclose to Ramirez's defense lawyers, Wischkaemper testified.

Had he known of the prior convictions, Wischkaemper testified, he would have challenged the witness' credibility on the stand. The informant also received a plea agreement for an aggravated sexual assault of a child charge in exchange for the testimony, documents reveal.

Kelly Weaver, an attorney with the Texas Attorney General's Office representing the state, cross-examined Wischkaemper, referring to a trial transcript that indicated he knew about at least some of the informant's convictions and some information on the plea agreement.

After Wischkaemper testified that he provided ineffective assistance of counsel to Ramirez, which is one claim in the habeas corpus writs, Weaver said that he had violated State Bar of Texas rules.

"Technically, every licensed attorney in this room has an obligation to report you to the State Bar," she said.

"If that's what the rule says, then I guess so," Wischkaemper replied.

Wischkaemper cited a large court-appointed caseload as one roadblock to checking all avenues of Ramirez's defense.

Metze, addressing the same issue, said that the lack of resources provided to low-income defendants and court-appointed attorneys is to blame.

"We are rendered ineffective most times ... by not being given the kinds of resources the state has ... to properly defend," Metze said.

Ramirez has maintained his innocence all along, said his sister, Rosa Vela of Lubbock.

"They have the wrong people and I hope they bring (in) the right guys," Vela said during a court recess.

Vela last spoke to her brother three weeks ago, and he was excited about the upcoming hearing, she said.

"He's innocent," Vela said. "(He says) one of these days he's going to come out because he didn't do it."

The trial judge, Felix Klein, appointed Judge Marvin Marshall to preside over the hearing. After the hearing concludes, Marshall will provide his conclusions to Klein, said Haynes and Boone spokesman Doug Bedell. Ultimately, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will make the decision on whether the convictions stand.