Ruben Carrizal, a long-time veteran
of the Harris County Sheriff’s department, went to work for the Harris County
District Attorney. He resigned the same year (2013).
He resigned
because he got caught tampering with
government documents; he executed a warrant without a judge’s signature,
then went back sometime later, had the judge sign it, and dated the document to make it look like it had been
signed all along.
A Grand Jury chose
not to take action on the case, and Carrizal resigned in (presumably) disgrace. He was then re-hired by the Sheriff’s
department. Three days later.
It is, shall we
say, a Bad Thing, to make either the choice or the mistake of not getting a
judge’s signature on a search warrant. It is an Even Worse Thing, in my
opinion, to backdate the warrant. He screwed up, and tried to avoid dealing
with the consequences. The system in place allowed him to do this, then
provided a safe haven for him when his acts came to light; he won’t be facing
charges, because a Grand Jury ‘chose to take no action’, which is apparently an even less public way of dismissing prosecution than a “no bill’.
If you plan on attending or
supporting the upcoming ‘Day of Unity’, please remember that this is the system
we’re fighting against. This is the shit that needs to be made public. In case you missed it, there was a pseudo press-release from SPM about the gathering on October 3rd, and you can listen to that here: https://m.soundcloud.com/dopehouseofficial/the-day-of-unity-speech
