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Raúl Torrez DA: Source: www.sandia.gov
Politicians consistently lie to the public so as to achieve mis-guided ends, true or false? And we reward this behavior by reelecting them, true or false? Ideally we would like to think that one of the many purposes behind democracy is to weed out defective representation and leadership. Unfortunately, the evidence behind our electoral tendencies paints a different picture, in that democracy is often used as a weapon to manipulate fears and emotions so as to achieve ends that run contrary to our collective good or gain. A classic example is the Patriot Act: Our fear of terrorism essentially wrote a blank check to use any means necessary to achieve questionable victories through methods that still to this day make us uncomfortable; all without transparency or democratic oversight. And recent statements by Bernalillo County DA Raúl Torrez and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham suggests a similar tactic of deceit being used against our liberties for the dual purpose of bureaucratic convince and political pandering.
They call it “rebuttable presumption,” an ongoing effort spearheaded by DA Raul Torrez and now leveraged by the governor that would create a “rebuttable presumption against release” in crimes including first- and second degree murder, voluntary man slaughter, and sexual exploitation of children. The intended legislation would shift the burden to the accused to somehow prove that their pre-trial release would not be a danger to society, even though the burden of proof has always resided with the state and prosecution.
For many, this makes sense: Offenders of this stripe should be kept off the streets. However, there’s an important premise of our legal system that presumes innocence until proven guilty by a court of law acting within the legal confines of the Constitution,
Affording certain guarantees such as due process, confrontation, legal representation, etc. Essentially, DA Torrez’s actions on this tell us that “innocent until proven guilty” is a nuisance that he would rather not be burdened with. And is like wise saying that if the police arrest you and his office decides to prosecute you then, you are to be treated as if a legal finding of guilt and conviction had already been reached.
Scales of Justice: Source PNGITEM.Com
As for the justification being sold to the public, the police, prosecutors, and politicians complain about the "revolving door" of criminality, suggesting that individuals on pretrial release awaiting adjudication on other charges, are somehow responsible for the perceived "crime surge" assaulting the nation.
Presumably it's an easy narrative to sell. Person x, who has already been accused of crime y and is not in custody, is an easy scapegoat for other criminality. We only need to look at the parties selling this convenient narrative to find the discrepancy behind their questionable motives and faulty logic. Mayor Tim Heller, Police Chief Harold Medina, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, lead by DA Raúl Torrez, all Democrats in an election year when public perceptions on crime are consistently stating that not enough is being done to fight crime, relegate criminals to cages, and keep our communities safe. Their motive is obvious: find a way to appear moderate and tough on crime so as to squeak by and win reelection or election.
Tough on Crime: Source: Pinterest.com
In 2016, New Mexicans voted for a constitutional amendment that largely eliminated the previous system of money bail bonds. The system was jaded by profit motives that had no righteous place in our system or concept of justice, and after decades of prejudice and abuses the voters spoke with the aforementioned amendment. In 2019, DA Torrez asked the Legislature to defy the voters and change the law to require judges to lock up defendants
charged with certain violent crimes. But his efforts were rebuked, and for the last two years he has not been deterred, now having acquired the backing of Governor Lujan Grisham who has apparently decided to tie herself to the same political dock of ideology over evidence and common sense.
I’m referring to the recent study released in September by the University of New Mexico Institute for Social Research that analyzed more than 10,000 felony cases in Bernalillo County and found that 95 percent of felony defendants were not arrested for a violent crime while on pretrial release. In fact, only 13 of the cases analyzed – fewer than 1 percent – involved arrest for first degree felonies while defendants awaited trial.