Expendable For A Cause.

As you know, during our trip to Los Angeles, we gained access to the court files held in the basement at the Hall of Records.  There are nine volumes.

On going through the first volume, we came across an original letter written by Richard, in 1986, from LA County Jail to Judge Dion Morrow, who was presiding over the case at that time. It isn’t dated, but in the body of the letter, as you can see, Richard mentions Monday, 8th September (the date of a court hearing, probably) and that “today is Wednesday”, so he wrote that letter on the 3rd September 1986. We could handle it and take photos (they wouldn’t copy it). It is written in ink, not ballpoint or biro.

I will transcribe the letter here, as some of you may be viewing it via your mobile phones and unable to read it clearly. The spelling mistake is Richard’s own, I left it in.

Mr Morrow

I am hampered in obtaining a lawyer of my choice due to the fact that I can’t get enough phone time. If you could issue a court order giving me more time on the phone I’d appreciate it. On Monday Sept 8 1986 I will not have proper counsel replacement. Today is Wendsday [sic] and I have failed to locate a certain person helping me in this matter. If I could have an extension of a few days I’d appreciate it.

Richard Ramirez

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Here we are, September 1986, and already Richard had been abandoned by his counsel. He turned for help to Judge Morrow, perhaps not knowing who else to go to other than the ‘man in charge’.
As frustrating as it is, we don’t know who Richard was trying to locate, but we must assume it was legal representation. Perhaps he had been given a name and a number before the absent Hernandezes departed. Where they were is anyone’s guess, possibly messing up another case in Santa Clara. 

Did Judge Morrow grant him more time?  I am inclined to think that he did, although I don’t know for sure.  Morrow, out of all the judges who presided over the trial, seemed to be the most fair, or perhaps the one who showed the least bias.  I am minded to think that Richard was granted an extension to find help as a couple of months after Richard wrote that letter, Prosecutor Halpin moved to get Morrow taken off the case by filing an affidavit of prejudice against him.  

Halpin cited Morrow’s workload, and he didn’t want any more delays, hoping to move forward to trial as soon as possible. Judge Morrow disagreed and claimed that all the judges in the court building had equally heavy caseloads.

Judge Shopping

Prosecutor Halpin defeated his own argument, for although attorneys are allowed to file motions to get judges removed, it is usually done early in the proceedings, not once a judge has reviewed all the documents in the case.   The prosecutor caused more delays by his actions, and he would have undoubtedly known that the new judge would have a mountain of pretrial documents to read before ruling on any motions.  

An outraged Arturo Hernandez (he did at least turn up) was quoted in the Herald Examiner as telling reporters that Halpin was “judge shopping”, in other words, finding a judge who was not quite so fair-minded.  After all, Dion Morrow warned Richard in chambers that his attorneys were not doing their job and his rights were being violated.

“It is totally ridiculous that Mr Halpin feels that such an honourable judge as Dion Morrow is prejudiced”.

(Arturo Hernandez, Herald Examiner 13th November 1986 )

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As it was, Halpin had his way, and Dion Morrow was duly replaced by Michael Tynan, a man so biased that he even acted as a ‘witness’ during the voir dire proceedings when Daniel Hernandez suggested Halpin was a “bigot.”

So, that’s the position Richard found himself in September 1986, asking for extra phone time and a few more days to find the person he needed to help him.
For once, we have a hitherto unseen letter written by Richard, not sold for profit by either a pen pal or a family member.  I will always wonder who he was looking for.