Press Coverage

Defense Questions Why DA Claims Ranger Lied About Murder Case

P. Christine Mills

Avalanche-Journal

A defense attorney on Monday tried to determine what Lamb County District Attorney Mark Yarbrough meant when he wrote that a Texas Ranger lied to get him to file a murder case against two men.

Both men hope to get their life sentences for the offense overturned.

The evidentiary hearing that could lead to freedom for Alberto Sifuentes and Jesus Ramirez resumed Monday in 72nd District Court nearly a month after it began. Appointed Judge Marvin Marshall called a recess on Sept. 1 after four days of testimony, so that attorneys for both sides could resolve a legal snag.

Sifuentes and Ramirez are serving life prison sentences for the Aug. 6, 1996, shooting death of Littlefield Jolly Roger convenience store clerk Evangelina Cruz.

Yarbrough at first testified twice Monday morning that Texas Ranger Sal Abreo, the lead investigator in the murder case, told him that a woman with the men that night had gone "in" the Jolly Roger store with Sifuentes and Ramirez. Yarbrough added that when he later read the woman's statement he saw that she had not been inside the store and had not been sure at which store the men stopped.

"When Sal Abreo called me up on ... August 11th or 12th 1996, he indicated to me that Mary Davila was in the Jolly Roger store with the defendants," Yarbrough testified. "Mary Davila's statement was not as cut and dry as Sal Abreo led me to believe."

According to court documents, the woman drank heavily that night, fell asleep in the car while returning from Lubbock and does not recall any specific place the trio may have stopped.

Yarbrough added that he did not think that Abreo meant to lie, but rather he made a misstatement.

However, after habeas corpus defense attorney Barry F. McNeil continued to question Yarbrough about Abreo's verbal report, Yarbrough retracted his testimony that Abreo said Davila was "in" the store. Instead, Yarbrough said, Abreo told him that the woman said she was "at" the store with Sifuentes and Ramirez.

Abreo is expected to either provide a deposition or testify when the hearing wraps up Oct. 12, the attorneys and Marshall discussed in court on Monday.

Sifuentes and Ramirez have served about seven years in state prison since their 1998 convictions. Haynes and Boone LLP, a Dallas law firm for which McNeil works, took on their case at the request of the Mexican government in 2001. McNeil and other attorneys at the firm filed writs of habeas corpus specifying new information that has come to light since the men's convictions and claims of actions and circumstances during the investigation and trials that hindered the men's due process.

Yarbrough, however, said after Monday's hearing that he still believes that Sifuentes and Ramirez committed the murder. He is considering whether to call state's witnesses on Oct. 12., and referred to information that he thinks disputes the writs' claims, such as a flaw in an alibi witness' testimony.

Yarbrough testified on topics limited to Sifuentes because he remains the state's lead attorney in the Ramirez case. A State Bar of Texas rule specifies that a lawyer cannot be both an advocate and a witness in a case. Yarbrough could have recused himself from the Ramirez case but did not, and earlier this month 154th District Judge Felix Klein decided to not recuse Yarbrough. McNeil sought the recusal so that Yarbrough could fully testify in the evidentiary hearing.

"The judge told us all we have to do is provide affidavits," Yarbrough said.

Yarbrough provided affidavits and said that the documents are complete. He insists he is fully cooperating to ensure a fair hearing.

Haynes and Boone attorney Sarah Teachout said after Monday's hearing that the affidavits do not allow the defense the opportunity to cross-examine Yarbrough regarding his statements.

After the hearing concludes Oct. 12, both sides will prepare to argue findings later in the month. Ultimately, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will decide whether the convictions stand.