PoliceDefense.org - Defending the Police - Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund

I am very gratified by your support of the officers whom LELDF is assisting. Because of your generous tax-deductible donations to our legal defense fund, we have taken on the new case of Police Chief Richard Thompson of Nebraska, in addition to continuing the others profiled in this issue: Officers Stephanie Mohr and Ray Bunn, and Sgt. Robert Lawlor.

In Chief Thompson’s case, he was confronted by a gun-wielding suspect who pointed a weapon directly at his face. Chief Thompson had no choice æ he had to use deadly force to save his own life.

In Officer Lawlor’s case, he was standing outside a vehicle with a driver known to be a wanted felon and dangerous. Similar to Officer Raymond Bunn, he believed that he and his partner were in immediate physical danger.

We are fortunate to have the funds to bring top-notch experts to testify in these cases. The first is Urey Patrick, a former FBI agent and instructor at the FBI Training Facility in Quantico, Virginia, who will be able to scrupulously examine all of the evidence and testify at the respective trials. In a previous issue, I mentioned his excellent book, In Defense of Self and Others: Issues, Facts & Fallacies—The Realities of Law Enforcement’s Use of Deadly Force.

He thoroughly understands the proper use of “deadly force.”

Our second expert, Geoffrey Taylor, has expertise in the re-creation of crime scenes and incidents; he will provide computerized models to clearly explain what occurred in each scenario.

The trials of Officers Ray Bunn and Robert Lawlor will be held later this year.
An update not mentioned in this issue is that of Deputy Sheriff Guillermo “Gilmer” Hernandez of Edwards County, Texas, who was convicted of violating the civil rights of illegal aliens and sentenced to 366 days in prison. Deputy Hernandez has decided not to appeal his conviction. The incident involved a carload of illegal aliens who tried to run him over when he attempted to stop them. The driver was smuggling human cargo over the border. Deputy Hernandez fired at the tires of the vehicle, not realizing that human bodies were stacked in the van so tightly that one person’s head was in the tire chamber! That person got bullet fragments in her head, which is the reason that the deputy was indicted and convicted æ through the efforts of district attorney Johnny Sutton, known for getting 11-year and 12-year convictions of two border patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

As I have said before, 90 percent of shooting incidents take place within a three-second time frame. In that small amount of time, a police officer must make an instant judgment and take action. He or she does not have the leisure to engage in a thoughtful decision-making process weighing the pros and cons of the action. They cannot know the intent of the suspect they are facing or the degree of injury that could result. They are trained to stop the threat and aggressive behavior. Their decisions to act are made in split seconds.

Last year was a particularly deadly one for law enforcement: 186 police officers were killed, 81 in traffic incidents. Officer fatalities have been declining since 1974 when there were 277 deaths nationwide.

LELDF exists to balance the scales for these heroes who face dangerous and violent scenarios æ even death æ and then are charged as if they were the criminals. Instead of getting a medal for valor, they often face a horrific trial and imprisonment.

Our duty is to defend those law enforcement officers who have acted properly in the face of threats. I appreciate your generous support that makes our legal defense of them possible.

Sincerely,

David Henderson Martin