By now many people around town are asking why – if as Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz asserts the DNA evidence in the Joe Lopez case proves he's guilty of rape – he doesn't release it to his appeals attorney and get it over with?
The give and take over the release of the DNA has been dragged out for over nine months now and there seems to be no end at the end of the tunnel.
Saenz has steadfastly refused to hand over the DNA and other evidence requested by Lopez's attorneys claiming that they must adhere to the process outlined by the state. The counterclaim by Lopez's attorneys is that Saenz has the power to release it to prove that no hanky-panky took place when it was presented to the court by former DA Armando Villalobos.
And now we learn that when the victim (then 13 years old) made the charges against Lopez she was carrying the child of her boyfriend from Baytown who had been intimate with her since she was only 12. The man, now paying child support for two children from the girl, says he was never called to testify in the case by Lopez's defense attorneys but would be willing to submit himself to testify if the occasion should arise during the appeals process.
The victim, while under oath, told the jury that she didn't know who the father was, although she previously told doctors who examined her that it was her boyfriend's, an adult with whom she had lived with for the better part of a year.
Lopez was convicted of in 2006 for sexually assaulting and molesting the 13-year-old girl.
Since then, his appeal for a new trial has been turned down – but not dismissed – by the Texas 13th Court of Appeals. Lopez is eligible to apply for parole in 2016.
The Tejano star, whose real name is Jose Manuel Lopez, has been fighting for a new trial since his October 2006 conviction.
According to his Houston appeals attorney Timothy A. Hootman, when Lopez requested the DNA evidence presented ta his trial, then-DA Armando Villalobos failed to answer his request within the 10-day period. Lopez asked for all the DNA and other case evidence used in his conviction back in Nov. 26, 2012.Many details surrounding the trial and conviction of Lopez has emerged after that time, including the fact that one of the attorneys defending the legendary frontsman for Mazz – Michael Trejo (on Joe's left in the photo) – acted as an in-between for payments made to the former DA for referring a wrongful death case. Federal prosecutors in the Villalobos racketeering trial submitted evidence that Trejo and Villalobos had what can only be described as a "cozy" relationship that linked both to an alleged scheme to kick back referral fees in the personal injury case involving Villalobos' sister-in-law.
In a supplement to the Villalobos indictment, "the government alleged that Villalobos referred a 2005 civil case involving his sister-in-law’s death to the law firm of Michael Cowen and Conrad Bodden. The case was settled for a substantial amount in April 2006. According to prosecutors, Villalobos received a referral fee in two checks, one for $60,000 and the other for $96,000.
The $60,000 check was made payable to attorney Michael Trejo, who was not involved with the case, but funneled the money to Villalobos, the court record states."
Not more than three months later, Trejo was Villaobos' adversary in the Lopez case.
His relatives say that the DNA evidence Villalobos said was acquired from the back of a pair of shorts that the victim wore is suspect. During the trial it was revealed that the garment had been mixed in with the rest of the family's dirty laundry and kept in a plastic trash bag for more than three months.
"During the (Lopez) trial, neither Trejo nor Young (Michael Young, the other defense attorney) objected to the DNA expert brought in by Villalobos," said his brother Raul Lopez. "It just so happened that my brother's case happened three months after Trejo delivered Villalobos the money from the other attorneys. Think about it. Villalobos was Joe's prosecutor and Trejo was his defense attorney. If Trejo was the in-between in the wrongful death case, could he have been in cahoots with Villalobos in Joe's case, too?"
Also missing from the jury's consideration was the medical report performed on the victim by Harris County
that showed she told doctors there that she was pregnant and was "depressed because we moved away from Baytown, my family and boyfriend."
A medical examination for her claim against Lopez indicates that doctors there found her to be "a sexually active adolescent...Examination is normal...(and found) no swelling, excoriation, bruising, or lacerations, or scarring."
A psychiatric evaluation of the minor found her to have an "adjustment disorder with mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct, chronic cannabis abuse, sexual abuse of child (victim), and parent-child relational problems."
At the time the examination was performed, she was "on probation for assault against stepfather and runaway...history of self-mutilation and hospitalized in October 2004, previous drug overdose requiring hospitalization."
11 comments:
Does this girl have no parents? What 13 year old can go screwing around with two men, have babies, and parents don't even notice? Por eseo estamos come estamos...
Joe did it, Juan. A jury said so. Give it up. He's where he belongs. God put him there for a reason.
Did God make him have sex with an under age girl, too? Was that part of the plan to put him in prison?
And I think any reasonable person has to wander why Sainz doesn't just release the sample and lets get on with it. Many people have been released from Texas prisons following wrongful convictions. These days it seems to be about winning and not about justice. I think Lopez is likely guilty but lets offer him every opportunity to prove the contrary after all, this is the only life he is going to get and if he did not do the crime he should be given the chance to exonerate his self.
Often troubled young ladies like the victim in this case are very vulnerable to be victimized because the victimizer knows that the child's credibility will be questioned and she is often not believed. Also, girls who have already been badly used often just accept additional victimization and never speak out.
Roman Polanski did the same thing and he is a hero. Why? Because he is a famous Polack Hollywood director and Joe is poor sharecroppers son.
Anon Poster October 15, 2013 at 9:51 AM
Roman Polanski was never a hero you dumbass, he was a coward who fled to Europe to avoid prosecution. You cannot assume that the success of his movies are an excuse to make him a "hero". If you do this then we should do the same with Joe Lopez since he had some sort of success in the valley right? Let's call Joe Lopez a "Hero" as well while we're at it. Typical idiotic thinking of a naïve fan.
Let's get this out of the way, Joe Lopez was found guilty by a jury of his peers and although I don't like Saenz stance of not allowing to have DNA samples put on the table we cannot assume that Lopez was wrongfully convicted JUST FOR THAT REASON ALONE.
Montoya seems to have stopped talking about the fat turd of Erasmo Castro and moved to another fat turd but the only difference is that he likes this fat turd. Let's talk about the real problems that affect this city instead of concentrating on a crusade to free a convicted sex offender shall we.
this blog blows...you post a story and then censor the comments about this pedophile. you suck
"Roman Polanski was never a hero you dumbass,"
OK you dumbass, Polanski was and is a hero to Hollywood and the film industry in general. He has received awards since his "deed" and flaunts around Cannes with hot chicks on each arm. Maybe to you, a broken down "conservative" in a deadbeat border town, he is not a hero, but to the rest of the intelligent and cultured world he is. Joe's problem is that he was born here and is a victim of what looks like a very corrupt judicial system, not to mention a retarded populace.
luis BIGOTE DE VENAGRILLO saez es un pendejo.pero el joe lopez es culpable que no se haga pendejo.
Why not test the evidence that "MAY" have been withheld by Villalobos to crucify an enemy? I'm not saying he's innocent but Villalobos and his cronies trying to frame someone is not far fetched at all!
If he's guilty, no one should mind testing for scientific DNA evidence.
if no one minds and he is guilty??? then why is saenz being such a hard ass about this matter? or is there something the world should not know? Only luis can answer that, hey luis the truth shall set you free, go ahead make his day.
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