thedrifter
08-29-08, 05:56 AM
"Marines are not murderers "
Maury Maverick - San Antonio Express-News
Originally published 09/07/1997
Tell it to the Marines ...
William Pitt, 1824
As a former Marine and a former civil rights lawyer working over the years with Mexican-American friends who enriched my life, I was deeply upset regarding the early news reports depicting the Marines as unnecessarily and heartlessly killing Ezequiel Hernandez Jr., the goatherder near the Mexico border.
Did the Marines shoot him in the back? Did they stand next to him and let him bleed to death? To find the answers to these and other questions I interviewed Mike Gross, a young and highly regarded San Antonio criminal defense lawyer who was retained by the U.S. Department of Justice to represent Cpl. Roy Torez, one of the four Marines in the team that shot Hernandez.
Gross is a graduate of the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, a graduate of Trinity University with the financial help of the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation and a law graduate of St. Mary's. He was a Marine judge advocate for about four years.
After leaving the Marines he worked as a lawyer for Jack Zimmermann, the Houston lawyer who defended Cpl. Clemente Banuelos who shot Hernandez. Banuelos was the leader of the four-man Marine team.
Now some questions to Gross:
Q. What is the background of your client Cpl. Torez?
A. He is a Hispanic who grew up around San Francisco and has an excellent record as a Marine.
Q. What discipline, if any, did the Marines follow before shooting Hernandez?
A. The Marines were fired upon twice by Hernandez. They radioed this to command, which replied that if an attempt was made to fire at them a third time they should follow the rules of engagement, meaning they could shoot to defend themselves. My investigation reflects that Hernandez aimed his rifle at the Marines a third time. It was then that he was shot.
Q. Was Hernandez shot in the back?
A. The bullet entered his right chest just below the nipple.
Q. What about news reports that the Marines let Hernandez bleed to death? A. There was no sign of blood. No one at the time knew he was bleeding. The bullet did not exit. The bleeding was internal. Medical reports indicate he was probably dead by the time the Marines reached him. They advanced on him deliberately, and on a trained leap-frog basis.
That took time.
Q. Why didn't the Marines pick him up and examine him?
A. He appeared to have a broken neck. Orders to Marines are to leave such a person alone until medical technicians arrive.
Q. Was it a Jim Crow killing as some news reports imply?
A. Of course not. No one knew the race of the dead man before he was shot. Two of the four Marines who made up the fire team were Hispanic.
Q. On the streets of Marfa, where you represented Torez before the grand jury, were local Mexican-Americans hostile to you?
A. No. We were treated courteously.
Q. What about Jack Zimmermann, the lead lawyer who represented Cpl. Banuelos, the team leader?
A. He (Zimmerman) graduated from Alamo Heights High School, graduated from Annapolis, holds two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart which he won in Vietnam as a forward observer for artillery . He was married in San Antonio at Temple Beth El. He's a retired colonel of the Marines and lives in Houston where he practices law. I worked in Houston for him as a lawyer starting out in private practice. He's highly regarded.
(Gerry Goldstein told me that Zimmermann's wife is the former Ilene Weinberger. "She's his secretary and the two of them make up a top criminal defense team. Jack is a person of high integrity and ability.")
Postscript: During the Vietnam War (which I detested), I sued all branches of the military perhaps as much as any lawyer in the country, but regarding the sad killing of Hernandez, I am convinced that the early news reports were unfair and misleading to the Marines.
Semper Fidelis.
Maury Maverick - San Antonio Express-News
Originally published 09/07/1997
Tell it to the Marines ...
William Pitt, 1824
As a former Marine and a former civil rights lawyer working over the years with Mexican-American friends who enriched my life, I was deeply upset regarding the early news reports depicting the Marines as unnecessarily and heartlessly killing Ezequiel Hernandez Jr., the goatherder near the Mexico border.
Did the Marines shoot him in the back? Did they stand next to him and let him bleed to death? To find the answers to these and other questions I interviewed Mike Gross, a young and highly regarded San Antonio criminal defense lawyer who was retained by the U.S. Department of Justice to represent Cpl. Roy Torez, one of the four Marines in the team that shot Hernandez.
Gross is a graduate of the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, a graduate of Trinity University with the financial help of the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation and a law graduate of St. Mary's. He was a Marine judge advocate for about four years.
After leaving the Marines he worked as a lawyer for Jack Zimmermann, the Houston lawyer who defended Cpl. Clemente Banuelos who shot Hernandez. Banuelos was the leader of the four-man Marine team.
Now some questions to Gross:
Q. What is the background of your client Cpl. Torez?
A. He is a Hispanic who grew up around San Francisco and has an excellent record as a Marine.
Q. What discipline, if any, did the Marines follow before shooting Hernandez?
A. The Marines were fired upon twice by Hernandez. They radioed this to command, which replied that if an attempt was made to fire at them a third time they should follow the rules of engagement, meaning they could shoot to defend themselves. My investigation reflects that Hernandez aimed his rifle at the Marines a third time. It was then that he was shot.
Q. Was Hernandez shot in the back?
A. The bullet entered his right chest just below the nipple.
Q. What about news reports that the Marines let Hernandez bleed to death? A. There was no sign of blood. No one at the time knew he was bleeding. The bullet did not exit. The bleeding was internal. Medical reports indicate he was probably dead by the time the Marines reached him. They advanced on him deliberately, and on a trained leap-frog basis.
That took time.
Q. Why didn't the Marines pick him up and examine him?
A. He appeared to have a broken neck. Orders to Marines are to leave such a person alone until medical technicians arrive.
Q. Was it a Jim Crow killing as some news reports imply?
A. Of course not. No one knew the race of the dead man before he was shot. Two of the four Marines who made up the fire team were Hispanic.
Q. On the streets of Marfa, where you represented Torez before the grand jury, were local Mexican-Americans hostile to you?
A. No. We were treated courteously.
Q. What about Jack Zimmermann, the lead lawyer who represented Cpl. Banuelos, the team leader?
A. He (Zimmerman) graduated from Alamo Heights High School, graduated from Annapolis, holds two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart which he won in Vietnam as a forward observer for artillery . He was married in San Antonio at Temple Beth El. He's a retired colonel of the Marines and lives in Houston where he practices law. I worked in Houston for him as a lawyer starting out in private practice. He's highly regarded.
(Gerry Goldstein told me that Zimmermann's wife is the former Ilene Weinberger. "She's his secretary and the two of them make up a top criminal defense team. Jack is a person of high integrity and ability.")
Postscript: During the Vietnam War (which I detested), I sued all branches of the military perhaps as much as any lawyer in the country, but regarding the sad killing of Hernandez, I am convinced that the early news reports were unfair and misleading to the Marines.
Semper Fidelis.