My hero of the week is Walt Staton.

Mr. Staton is a young man living in Arizona who is set to enter the seminary next week. He has spent the last several years volunteering with the group "No More Deaths," which was founded by people of faith and social activists to combat the "morally intolerable situation" of migrants dying while crossing the Sonoran Desert. The organization's main goal is to save lives by providing assistance to the people crossing the desert - mainly by providing them water to drink.

He was convicted in federal court of littering - for leaving plastic jugs of water out for people to drink as they crossed the parched, barren desert. The prosecutors claimed that Mr. Staton's "actions are not about humanitarian efforts, but about protesting the immigration policies of the United States, and aiding those that enter illegally into the United States," and pointed out that many of the water jugs had the phrase "Buena Suerte" (translation: "good luck") written on them, pointing to the conclusion, claimed prosecutors, "that the defendant and No More Deaths wish to aid illegal aliens in their entry attempt." Federal Magistrate Jennifer Guerin sentenced Mr. Staton to 300 hours of picking up trash and a year of unsupervised probation.

How are the actions of a group trying to save lives - 124 migrants have died in the Arizona desert since last October - not "humanitarian efforts?" Mr. Staton recalls his experiences:

"It starts to put the world in perspective. You start meeting real people. You meet moms, and you meet children, and you meet dads, and uncles, and grandpas, and you know, the people that I consider to be heroes. I mean these people are basically saying, “I refuse to raise my children in poverty, or I refuse to live in a situation where I can’t get a job that is dignified. I can’t live with dignity, so I’m moving.

"I think the courage of people to migrate is a really inspiring thing, but it’s tough in a lot of ways because there isn’t a whole lot we can do. I mean, we are out there as medical people, and with food and water just to–– I guess if you find someone in their worst possible state, if they’re in real medical distress, then we can take them to a hospital or something. But the hardest part is realizing there is not a lot we can do. We can’t drive people places. So you meet these really amazing folks who are making a very powerful statement with their feet, you know, and you are just a little blip in their longer journey."

Reading his words, I remembered one of my experiences several years ago. My husband and I spent a spring break during law school camping with our families at Big Bend National Park. As we began our drive out of the park to head back to Austin, we spotted what I thought was an old man walking through the agaves and cacti. He looked disoriented and sick, so I pulled over to check on him. He cautiously eyed us and I waved him over. Fearfully, he finally began walking slowly towards us. I then realized he wasn't an old man at all, but probably a man younger than me. He just appeared old because he was so hunched over and weather-beaten. I asked him if he had any water or food (it was unbelievably hot and dry that day). He replied that he did not, so we handed him several bottles of water, snack bars, and fruit. I really wanted to invite him into my back seat, but remembered that we could then be arrested and charged with transportating an "alien" (I hate that word) under 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii). I figured that we could also be arrested for providing the man with food and water, but I figured obeying moral and ethical laws was more important in that situation than possibly violating a federal code when I thought a man could die in front of us if he didn't get water soon.*

My experience was only a brief one, so I can only imagine how strongly Mr. Staton and his fellow volunteers feel after meeting hundreds of migrants and learning of several of their deaths. I was proud to read that "No More Deaths" is continuing to solicit volunteers and provide much needed water, medical supplies, and food to our brethren and sistren as they risk their lives to provide a better life for their families. I'm sure this won't be the last arrest and conviction but am glad that the volunteers are continuing to follow their convictions.

*I have since learned that federal courts have held that providing "aliens" with food or water does indeed violate 8 U.S.C. § 1324.

Labels: activism, civil disobedience, desert, federal court, humanitarianism, immigration

posted by Kristi Couvillon   permalink   0 Comments

It’s a busy week over here, so blogging has been light. Here are some things we’d probably have written about if we’d had more time:

Lester Johnson, the private investigator whose work helped clear David Lozano of attempted capitol murder charges after a shootout with APD, was honored at the Texas Association of Licensed Investigators convention this week. Interestingly, in the Statesman article’s comments section, Johnson continues to call out APD and the officer who filed an – ahem – unreliable report.

If you’re not totally clear on the backstory on Sharon Keller and her trial, there’s a good primer on it at the StandDown Texas Project. The veeeeery brief version is that Keller, the chief justice of Texas’ highest criminal court, is on trial for judicial misconduct after responding to an attorney whose computer problems were causing him to run a few minutes late while filing an appeal to stay an execution with the words, “We close at five.” He arrived at 5:20, the court refused to accept is filing, and his mentally-handicapped client was executed at 8:23 that evening.

Grits For Breakfast has another good post up – it’s like this is a trend or something – this time on the subject of DWI prevention via public transit and zoning for neighborhood bars. Expect some expanded commentary on this topic in this space coming soon.

The Statesman has an article about thousands of parolees who’ve been classified as sex offenders despite having never been convicted of a sex crime.

Gamso: For The Defense, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite legal blogs, has a smart primer on exactly what different types of pleas mean. It’s a really useful post for non-attorneys like myself, especially, who couldn’t understand that someone who pleads “not guilty” even though they know they did it wasn’t lying.

Houston defense attorney Paul Kennedy has better news for people who were outraged reading about Sharon Keller (which maybe should be everybody) – the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided to allow an appeal that was filed a day late. The attorney in question blamed the problem on the county’s broken fax machine. Curiously, it appears their fax machine is usually broken when this court-appointed attorney – who takes on 355 felony appointments a year – tries to file appeals, and it usually fixes itself the next day.

Labels: abuse of power, APD, crime prevention, dwi, grits for breakfast, pleas, sex offender registration

posted by Dan   permalink   0 Comments

Austin attorney and former bar association president Mina Brees passed away this weekend. The article touches on some of the controversy surrounding her, but regardless of that, our condolences to her family.

GamsoForTheDefense has a post about a 60-something year old man who's been living in his house for years who, oops, had his address put on the sex offender notification postcards by mistake.

GritsForBreakfast links to a Houston Chronicle op-ed about jail overcrowding. Seriously smart stuff.

Another GritsForBreakfast piece about bait cars, which we've talked about on the blog previously. He makes the cogent point that, if it takes weeks for someone to break into a car WITH THE KEYS INSIDE OF IT AND THE WINDOWS DOWN, the police probably don't need to be so concerned about that neighborhood.

The StandDown Texas Project has a great piece about mental illness and the juvenile justice system here.

And finally, there's a good one in the NYTimes from yesterday by Barbara Ehrenreich about whether or not poverty's become a crime.

Labels: bait cars, grits for breakfast, juveniles, linkdump, sex offender registration

posted by Dan   permalink   0 Comments