ABA PRESIDENT CASTIGATES STATE LAWYERS ON VELEZ CASE

By Juan Montoya
Unless you were a legal eagle with an eye on the editorial pages, you might have missed a letter sent to the Brownsville Herald by one Laurel G. Bellows.
Turns out Ms. Bellows (in photo) is none other than the president of the American Bar Association out of Washington D.C. She is originally out of Chicago, Ill.
She apparently took umbrage with statements made by state prosecutor L.J. Rabb in the hearing of the case involving death-row prisoner Manuel Velez.
According to media reports, Velez was convicted in October 2008 of killing 1-year-old Angel Gabriel Moreno. He was sentenced to death, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals threw out the sentence in June because expert witness testimony on future dangerousness was deemed inaccurate.
The child’s mother, Acela Moreno, pleaded guilty to striking Angel Gabriel Moreno on or about Oct. 31. She served five years of a 10-year sentence and testified against Velez during the trial. She received a plea deal and pleaded guilty to injury of a child.
Rabb tol reporters that Velez’s current attorneys had bigger pocketbooks than did Villarreal and went out and found experts who bought into their theory.
“He (Villarreal) didn’t have the availability of a pack of high-priced, suited attorneys,” Rabb said.
This set off Bellows who pointed out that Kanan and the members of the defense team were performing their work pro bono (without charge) and that they were simply providing the defendant the legal representation "that justice demands."
"Eighty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that criminal defendants who face a possible death sentence should have the assistance of the guiding hand of counsel," Bellows wrote. "This is because the integrity and accuracy of our criminal justice system depends on quality representation on both sides of any capital case."
Kanan said Velez was not even in Texas when the child sustained the fatal injuries. However, the state in 2008 based its case on the premise that the child sustained the injuries on Oct. 18 or later, after Velez had returned to Texas.
According to a Dec. 18 report by Herald reporter Mark Reagan, Dr. Daniel Brown testified during the trial that the child had a subdural hematoma, a brain injury, that was 18 to 36 days old at the time of his death, and added that the injury could have contributed to the baby’s death.
Prosecutors maintained that injuries the child suffered on Oct. 31 killed him. Habeas counsel has said that a combination of injuries sustained before Oct. 31, in addition to those sustained that day, killed him.
“Manuel Velez’s counsel never called Brown to ask the age of the subdural hematoma,” Kanan said.
“Velez’s attorney never asked, ‘Can they be older than 14 days,” Kanan said. “A simple question...The jury should hear all the evidence and make a determination...They heard half.”
The hearing for a new trial for Velez was heard by Judge Elia C. Lopez who has 30 to 60 days to tell the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals whether Velez should have another day in court.
"Mr. Velez's attorneys are examples of the finest tradition of public service, and they deserve our gratitude and appreciation," Bellows wrote.
Her ABA page includes this bio on the ABA president: "Bellows’ work in the law and her community has been recognized by many publications. Crain’s Chicago Business lists Bellows among its annual list of Power Players; in 2006, she was named one of the 28 Power Lawyers in the City by Chicago Magazine; she was cited as one of Chicago’s 100 Women of Influence in 1996, also by Crain’s Chicago Business; and Bellows was listed among Working Mother Magazine’s 25 Most Influential Working Mothers in the country in 1997.
Bellows has been on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on the Administration of Justice, and on the U.S. Senate Judicial Nominations Commission for Illinois. She has served as chair of the Chicago Network, a networking organization of diverse, professional women in the Chicago area. Bellows was the second female president of the 22,000-member Chicago Bar Association where she founded the Women’s Alliance."