On November 14, 2012, Kenneth Gonzales, who was then the US Attorney for New Mexico, was nominated by Barack Obama to fill a vacancy in the Federal District Court in that state. The Senate failed to act on the nomination that year, but Obama renominated Gonzales in January of 2013 and he was confirmed by the Senate the following June. A month later, in early August, 2013, Gonzales resigned from his position as US Attorney and assumed his seat on the federal bench. His close friend and former subordinate, Damon Martinez, was appointed to replace Gonzales, but is currently awaiting confirmation by the Senate. In the interim, Gonzales’ second in command, Steven Yarbrough, has been moved up to temporarily fill the position. Gonzales holds court in Las Cruces, New Mexico alongside Judge Robert Brack.
All of this information takes on ominous significance when you consider the fact that as US Attorney for New Mexico, Gonzales and his staff have been accused of a pattern of intentionally withholding evidence and information which might have hurt their cases and helped defendants. Those accusations come in the form of a Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice the four remaining charges in the Reese case.
We have been covering the Reese family for a couple of years. Rick Reese and his family ran a gun shop next to their home in rural New Mexico, and were arrested back in August of 2011 on a raft of charges. Rick and Terri Reese, and their sons Ryin and Remington, were thrown in jail and denied bail. Virtually everything they owned of any value was seized, and forfeiture proceedings were started. After six months, bail was finally granted for Terri (for medical reasons), but Rick and the boys remained incarcerated for over a year. In the trial, Remington was acquitted of all charges and released, while the other three were convicted of making false statements in connection with the acquisition of firearms – one count each for Rick and Terri and two counts for Ryin. They were acquitted of all of the other charges.
Four months after the trial, 18 months after being arrested, Rick and Ryin were still in jail awaiting sentencing when it was discovered that prosecutors had withheld information about a witness – a local sheriff’s deputy whose testimony directly conflicted with Terri Reese’s. Turns out he was the subject of a ten-year federal corruption investigation. The judge ruled that he “might have shaded his testimony to curry favor with federal prosecutors.” The judge set aside the Reese convictions and ordered a new trial, stating that “there is no doubt the prosecution, intentionally or negligently suppressed the evidence.”
The Reese’s defense team responded to that order with a Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice. In it, they listed numerous other cases in which the US Attorney’s Office, under Gonzales’ leadership, had withheld evidence that they are constitutionally mandated to share with defense attorneys. A hearing was scheduled for March 7, 2013. The Reese’s attorneys planned to subpoena the prosecutors involved as well as their supervisors – including Gonzales and his top deputy, Steven Yarbrough, but all that was derailed when Gonzales appealed the judge’s order for a new trial to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Something critically important to note is that the judge in the Reese case is Robert Brack – who shares chambers with now Judge Gonzales. Regardless of what the 10th Circuit decides, the case will come back to Judge Brack.
The Gonzales appointment was held up in the Senate Judiciary Committee by Chuck Grassley (R-IA), but after Gonzales appealed to the 10th Circuit – sidestepping the scheduled evidentiary hearing – Grassley made a deal with Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to let the nomination advance in spite of the accusations of impropriety. (That deal was subsequently used by Leahy as leverage to push through the confirmation of B. Todd Jones as head of the BATF.)
The question now is whether the Reeses, who have been fighting for their lives since August 2011, have the slightest chance of getting anything close to justice under the current circumstances? Gonzales is a judge for life. He will be working next to Judge Brack until one of them dies or retires. Any favorable decision for the Reeses could dramatically affect that working relationship.
Meanwhile, Gonzales will be hearing cases assembled by the same team he is accused of leading in corruption. That team is continuing their prosecution of the Reese family even though the family has collectively, already spent more time in jail than the average person convicted of the same crimes.
The Reeses have been robbed and bankrupted by lawyers who are being paid by you and me. This is bad and it’s going to get worse as Obama’s “nuclear option” swings into full motion.
Your senators need to hear about the Reeses and Judge Gonzales. They need to know what you think of their new rules for confirming judges, and what you intend to do about it in future elections.
Contributions to the Reese Legal Defense Fund can still be made at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.
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