Annunciation House Newsletter

Full Repsonse to ruling - PDF
ANNUNCIATION HOUSE PRESS STATEMENT REGARDING THE RULING IN THE CASE OF SHOOTING DEATH OF JUAN PATRICIO PERAZA

El Paso, TX – July 29, 2008 – U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard P. Mesa delivered a verdict late last Friday in the case of Cesar Peraza Barraza and Ramona Irene Quijada Soto versus the United States of America, regarding the 2003 shooting death of Juan Patricio Peraza, at the time a 19-year-old national of Mexico, by Border Patrol Agent Vernon Billings.

The ruling concluded that Billings’ use of deadly force was justified, and that Peraza’s tragic death, therefore, did not result from negligence. Annunciation House, however, views Magistrate Judge Mesa’s decision as deeply troubling and bearing significant consequences for the El Paso and greater border community.

Indeed, in places like El Paso, where the harsh realities associated with grinding poverty and immigration are a lived experience for most, and where the ubiquitous presence of the Border Patrol figures prominently in daily life, it is of the utmost importance that matters pertaining to both are treated with meticulous care.

It is nevertheless clear that, in Juan Patricio Peraza’s case, this did not occur.

The trial evidence presented to the court was shaped to a significant degree by the numerous actions and violations of fundamental Border Patrol policy and investigative procedures that transpired before and after the shooting—such as staking out a homeless shelter, failing to ascertain basic information before applying deadly force, the removal of witnesses from the scene before they could be questioned by the El Paso Police Department (EPPD), and the failure to gather information at the crime scene.

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Ruling in full - PDF

Judge RICHARD P. MESA’S legal decision in the case of

CESAR PERAZA BARRAZA and,

RAMONA IRENE QUIJADA-SOTO,

Statutory Death Beneficiaries of

JUAN PATRICIO PERAZA, Deceased,

Plaintiffs,

v.s.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Defendant

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statement from Annunciation House

When law enforcement officers — the very individuals entrusted to uphold peace and safety — shoot and kill members of the community, a rigorous investigation into the origins of such an incident must be conducted.

The case of Juan Patricio Peraza is no exception.

Posted on August 2, 2008

U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard P. Mesa delivered a verdict late last Friday in the case of Cesar Peraza Barraza and Ramona Irene Quijada Soto versus the United States of America, regarding the 2003 shooting death of Juan Patricio Peraza, at the time a 19-year-old national of Mexico, by Border Patrol Agent Vernon Billings.

LINK

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Annunciation House will present its 2008 VOICE OF THE VOICELESS AWARD to Roy Bourgeois on May 17TH

Awarded the Purple Heart as an officer in the U.S. Navy, Roy Bourgeois was ordained a Maryknoll priest in 1972. Sent to Bolivia to work with the poor, he was arrested by security forces and forced to leave Bolivia. His experience in Bolivia led him to understand the use of military forces to suppress efforts by the poor in Latin America to organize, unionize, monitor human rights and work for greater participation in government. He became aware that soldiers trained at the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia, returned to their countries and committed human rights violations. [Read more →]

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The civil trial against the United States filed on behalf of the parents of Juan Patricio started on Monday. The trial is a wrongful death trial that claims that as a result of negligence by Border Patrol, Juan Patricio was shot and killed on the morning of February 22, 2003.

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Illegal immigrant’s parents are suing the U.S. government over showdown with agent that left the 19-year-old dead

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL

Associated Press

EL PASO A 19-year-old illegal immigrant shot to death by a U.S. Border Patrol agent four years ago was nothing more than a scared kid, a lawyer for the family suing the government told a judge Friday.

“It was five agents and a scared 19-year-old boy with a pipe,” Enrique Moreno argued in his closing argument of the federal civil trial in the death of Juan Patricio Peraza. “Those agents … knew the rules.

LINK

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April 11, 2008. On the final day of the trial, the defense asked VB to take the stand again. His testimony earlier in the week had focused on his actions on the day of the shooting. Now, the defense asked about his background, his education, his family. He has a two-year-old daughter. They were humanizing him, which I could appreciate. He said this whole incident had been difficult for him. He couldn’t sleep for a long time after. Again I thought, there will be no winners in this case. Everyone has already lost.

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April 10, 2008. Today, Thursday, was the fourth day of the trial. The prosecution began by calling Irene Quijada to the stand. Before today I had known Juan Patricio through a single photograph (taken at Annunciation House shortly before his death) and through generalities—that he was nice, cheerful, so very young when he died. I had heard for years about his death, but I knew very little about his life. Irene testified that her son Juan had lived with her in the town of Puerto Piñazco until he was about twelve years old. Then he was sent to Piaxtla, Sinaloa, to live with his grandmother and attend secondary school. His father, Cesar, sent money for his education and would visit him every June 24—

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April 8, 2008. The prosecution called Agent VB to the stand.

He walked up from his seat at the defense table, a few feet away from where the parents of Juan Patricio were sitting. I don’t think Cesar and Irene had realized before —I’m not sure I had realized—that this man, who had been sitting so close to them for a day and a half, was the very man who had shot their son. Enrique Moreno, lead counsel for the prosecution, enlightened us all with a directness that startled me.

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April 7, 2008, a little after nine o’clock in the morning. Five men stood before the judge with their right hands raised. They wore suits in varying shades of gray with creases running down the backs of their trouser legs. Their haircuts and posture pegged them as military men, or police officers. They stated their names one by one, then all together they swore before God to tell the court the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The bailiff led them away to the witness room. It was not till much later in the day that I realized one of those men—the one with black hiking boots, a short bristly mustache, the medium grey coat with the vague cowboy design stitched across the back—was the man who shot Juan Patricio Peraza Quejada.

[Read more →]

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