Judge, seasoned prosecutor stunned by Waco police 'I have never seen a situation quite like this...'

DA gigs daily paper account as 'inaccurate, misleading'

District Attorney Abel Reyna

Waco – Seven defendants walked free of an indictment for engaging in organized crime because the Waco police refused to tell the prosecutors the names of confidential informants in the case.

Said State Criminal District Judge Ralph T. Strother, “...in my legal career I have never seen a situation quite like this,” as he ordered legal staff and the top brass of the Waco Police Department to come to a decision whether to release the information to prosecutors by 5 p.m. on Monday.

The judge answered the objections of the prosecutor this way.

“I know, and that's the issue I'm about to address,” he told First Assistant Prosecutor Michael Jarrett as he ruled that a defense attorney representing one of the defendants cannot know the name of the confidential informants. “That certainty is the rule, and I have not been able to find a single case that ever dealt with that...”

He further noted that in his career as a criminal prosecutor, “When I stepped into the courtroom, I always wanted to know everything there was to know.”

WendiGail Baskin, who also has two drug cases pending, is facing theindictment along with Delvin Maddison, a man who has been convictedof drug offenses and cases of assault numerous times in his life.(click here for a previous report)

Five other defendants are all charged on the same Waco police case number involving extortion of motor vehicles from persons presumably involved as customers in drug sales.

Mr.Maddison has figured in social media news stories lately in which hehas vigorously defended his innocence against allegations that he wasinvolved in an arson attack on a Bosqueville woman named Ashley DawnRogers and her three children that cost her life and those of two ofher children. (click here for a previous report)

A third child was rescued by a neighbor as the fire suddenly engulfed the trailer house located on N. 18^th Street near the Brazos River. Reported at 6:30 p.m. on a chill February night in 2012, the dwelling was totally involved in flames when firefighters arrived only minutes later.

“I'm not even sure the statute or the rules of evidence, whether the privilege exists,” the judge added in regard to withholding the names from the prosecution. He did note, however, that prosecutors have the right to decline prosecution under the indictments if they so choose.

Though the informants provided information, none of it concerned participation in providing information that dealt with the legality of providing the information, or that dealt with the legality of obtaining the evidence, the judge said, according to a court reporter's transcript reprinted on District Attorney Abel Reyna's Facebook page.

One may read the entire 18-page document by clicking here.

Mr. Reyna leveled harsh criticism at Waco Tribune-Herald courthouse reporter Tommy Witherspoon's account of the hearing, which was held last Friday. In that hearing, an attorney for the City of Waco argued that a possible leak in the DA's office caused the police to object to release of the names of the informants. Mr. Reyna responded by noting on his Facebook page:

The newspaper staff, “in an effort to sell papers, has reported inaccurate and misleading information about the McLennan County District Attorney's office and an implied 'leak' in our office. I can assure everyone that there is no 'leak' in our office. The Waco Trib has taken an outdated issue and failed to report it accurately, and worse, withheld pertinent information to the story. This can hardly be considered journalism...”

He noted that the employee who was accused of leaking information resigned her position last spring over an unrelated matter.

JudgeStrother said, “I do think there is a real legitimate concern regarding the safety and welfare of the confidential informants.”(One may read a previous report by clicking here)