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Sunday, February 23, 1997

Troubling gaps exist in state justice system

By STEVE RAY / Harte-Hanks Austin Bureau

In 1995, Anthony John Torres admitted to slitting his 3-year-old son's throat because the boy wouldn't stop crying for his imprisoned mother. He packed his son's body in a picnic basket and threw it in a trash bin.

Next month, a Texas judge may let him out of jail.

The news is almost as startling as the crime.

And it points up troubling gaps in a state justice system meant to punish the criminal and protect the victim.

"This could have major ramifications throughout our state," said State Sen. Florence Shapiro, a Plano Republican who leads criminal justice reform measures in the Senate.

"It is precisely the type of incident that has caused distrust and questions about our criminal justice and judicial system."

Texas law requires that jailed defendants have their case dismissed if no indictment is handed down by the first grand jury convened after the arrest.

The law is meant to protect the civil rights of those who are arrested and live up to the constitutional guarantee of a fair and speedy trial.

But Torres, who was arrested on April 27, wasn't indicted until July 25. The grand jury term following his arrest ended in June.

Now, despite three separate confessions, Torres could end up a free man.

The problem is Bexar County grand juries. They meet for only two months, where many grand juries have terms that last up to six months. The problem exists in other Texas counties as well.

That means police sometimes have less than 60 days to prepare their case and prosecutors say medical examiners have a hard time getting autopsy reports completed in such a short time.

Torres was arrested and indicted within 84 days. That's a reasonable amount of time to wait for an indictment when you consider the toddler's body was never found.

The father was not left languishing in jail. Police had to work on blood samples, evidence had to be gathered ... even with three confessions from the accused killer.

Lawmakers have had enough. Bills have already been filed and some have passed out of committee to change the system. One would allow longer periods for those counties that have a two-month grand jury term. Another would change the law from the first grand jury to two grand jury terms or 270 days -whichever is greater.

Shapiro, who is the vice-chairwoman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, hopes to amend the measures to make sure a suspect can be re-indicted - even if two grand juries have come and gone.

Lawmakers have already begun the process. State senators passed a harmless error law last week that would prevent technicalities from overruling criminal sentences.

In courtrooms around this country, justice is depicted by a woman wearing a blindfold holding scales that should not tip to the right or the left.

Now, some will tell you that Torres deserves to go free because the law was not followed. They say the scales of justice will tip to far to the victim if he stays behind bars.

But Shapiro says Texas is reversing the trend that leans to protecting criminals.

"People are fed up," Shapiro said. "We are hearing it more every single day. This Torres case is another example of the frustration that citizens have with the system.

"In the battle of philosophies between the rights of victims and criminals, the pendulum is finally swinging back to the side of the law-abiding citizen in this state."Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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