El Paso DA Bill Hicks plans to appeal second dismissal of 211 migrant "riot" cases

El Paso County District Attorney Bill Hicks is vowing to appeal a local judge's ruling to dismiss over 200 cases stemming from a border "riot" earlier this month.

Hicks made the announcement during a news conference April 9, prompting El Paso County Public Defender Kelli Childress to hold a press conference of her own denouncing many of Hicks' allegations against her office.

The migrants' cases have become a flashpoint for the two legal leaders, with Hicks adamantly pursuing prosecution of the misdemeanor cases and Childress decrying that pursuit as a waste of time and resources.

The back-to-back news conferences took place Thursday, May 9, at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse, only a day after Judge Ruben Morales dismissed more than 200 cases related to the March 21 "riot" at the U.S.-Mexico border over the fact that the district attorney's office failed to secure a transfer order before moving the cases from district court to county court.

Hicks was the first to rally reporters in an effort to "clarify the record" on Morales' decision, but many of the DA's comments were directed at Childress. He criticized the public defender's office for giving short notice of filings and hearings and for a recent rash of public information requests he says have nothing to do with the "riot" cases.

More: El Paso county judge dismisses border 'riot' charges against 140 migrants

"I am not sure what their agenda is, if it's political ... but they are certainly using taxpayer money to do things that are not related to defending their clients," Hicks said during the news conference. "And I question why they are able to get hearings, and taking us to court, without providing us with adequate notice, or adequate copies or service on the documents they plan to have hearings on."

As Hicks wrapped his comments on the second floor, reporters hurried to the first floor where Childress and members of her staff were waiting to rebut the comments made by the district attorney.

"We had decided to hold this conference to be able to respond to Mr. Hicks and the remarks he made in his conference," Childress said. "I'm flattered, but I was not prepared for the majority of his conference to be all about me, I thought we were going to be talking about the 'riot' cases."

'We will do our job'

For Hicks, the decision reached by Morales on May 8, which found that the 211 cases brought before his court had to be tossed over what amounts to a clerical error, is erroneous.

"Our office feels very strongly that the procedure was proper," he said. "We argued that it was appropriate and proper, and we feel that very strongly and it was done properly, and his order is an improper order."

Hicks said his office is already preparing an appeal. He hopes to see Morales' decision dismissed and all 211 cases reinstated.

When it came to recent actions by the public defender's office, Hicks was not short on words, first criticizing Childress for her work filing motions on behalf of the "riot" suspects, at least half of which are represented by private attorneys.

"It is important to understand that the public defender ... only represents between 40-50% of these cases," Hicks said. "Yet inexplicably, Ms. Childress and her office have been filing 100% of the motions on these cases."

He likewise chided Childress over a mountain of public information requests, which he said have been draining his staff in recent weeks and have "absolutely nothing to do with their clients."

Most of those requests, he said, are related to the district attorney's communications with the Texas attorney general's office and the grand jury.

"I'm not sure what their motivations are," he said.

As to Childress' accusation following the Morales' hearing that Hicks' voracity in pursuing the misdemeanor "riot" charges was political or anti-immigrant, the district attorney asserted that his office is simply doing its job.

"These cases are very clearly about law and order," he said. "If someone breaks the law in this community, this office, the office of the district attorney, is charged with enforcing the laws. And if someone breaks the law in our community, we will file charges and make sure the person faces justice in our courtrooms."

More: DA Bill Hicks indicts migrants for rioting after judge dismisses 140 charges

"We will do our job," Hicks continued. "It is not about immigration, it is not about politics, it is about law and order. It is about protecting our community."

Despite the focus on public safety, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office confirmed that the office is offering a one-day credit for time served as a plea bargain in the "riot" cases, allowing the migrants to leave jail after one day.

"(While) we believe these individuals have committed crimes and should be found guilty, we also recognize the circumstances surrounding their actions," Jennifer Cortes, project director for the district attorney's office, wrote in an email. "Considering these factors, we believe justice is best served through a conviction and plea offers of time served, especially since all defendants have already spent over two weeks in jail."

"It's worth noting that neither private bar attorneys nor public defenders have presented any counter offers," she added. "For those unlawfully present in the country, once they complete their sentence, they will be transferred to federal authorities."

'No valid reason to indict a misdemeanor'

While Hicks never referred to the public defender by name, Childress went directly after the district attorney, alleging that his vigor in prosecuting the cases has led to immense waste.

"Indicting misdemeanors is detrimental to our overburdened justice system, it is detrimental to our limited resources, to taxpayer dollars, and in the backlog of cases requiring a grand jury's attention that are not currently getting it," Childress said late last week. "Not to mention, there's a cost to the citizens who serve on grand juries as part of their civic duty."

Further, Childress accused Hicks of intentionally attempting to avoid having his name tied to the cases.

"As well, indicting misdemeanors offers no benefit whatsoever to anyone other than the benefit to a district attorney who does not want to face a public probable cause hearing before a judge on the merits of the case. It also benefits any district attorney who does not want to sign their own name onto a charging document."

Childress also balked at the assertion that the cases were thrown out due to a technicality, saying jurisdiction issues are "one of the essential checks and balances on power that have been a hallmark of our government since this great nation was born."

"Judges are barred from taking any action whatsoever, even if my clients waive the issue, until a proper and lawful charging document has been filed," she said. "This is not a technicality; this is fundamental to our justice system and that law is clear to anyone who takes the time to open up their statute book."

As for Hicks' allegation that the public defender's office was improperly collaborating with private attorneys on the cases, Childress said it was "a silly assertion."

More: DA Bill Hicks indicts migrants for rioting after judge dismisses 140 charges

"I understand Mr. Hicks is claiming I wasted resources in filing motions on behalf of the private attorneys," Childress said. "That's actually not the case at all. In our office, we have the technology to push a button that is linked to a spreadsheet ... and the computer instantly puts out 106 or 214 motions, or whatever needs to be printed. So, we did agree, since it was only going to be a single motion with the exact same wording in every single motion, that we would go ahead and accomplish the actual formatting of that."

Mostly, however, Childress seemed perturbed by Hicks' insistence that these Class B misdemeanors represent an immediate need for action when her office still has 70 Class B misdemeanors that have been awaiting review from the district attorney's office for more than a year.

"These allegations that all of this, everything they're doing, is not wasteful and has nothing to with the fact that these are migrants, I guess everyone can judge for themselves," Childress said. "But the allegations of waste that have been lodged against my office are absolutely false."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso DA Bill Hicks to appeal dismissal of migrant 'riot' cases