From: Italo Zarate (Ooh, Boy!)
Editor,
When I first met Joe he was a rookie in the national Guard. A gifted young fellow destined to become famous singer from "El Valle." On the positive side, his music entertains hundreds of thousands of fans every day internationally. On the negative side, his music also triggers an image of a somber Joe looking out the windows of his prison cell. It dampens the joy, and like the Iraq war, it should never have happened.
The Lopez family says Joe's career was ruined by a troubled teenager (his niece) who accused him of sexual assault, but also by a vindictive Cameron County District Attorney. Troubled, because sources indicate she had serious problems. Being sexually active by age 14 and habitually lying, are two of her problems. The vindictive part, because the DA had a personal dispute with Joe and could have cause him to act spitefully.The adolescent's demeanor doesn't excuse anyone from committing such a crime, but Joe claims he didn't touch her. If she was already sexually active before pointing fingers at Joe, who was she having sex with? Were they not charged with sexually assaulting her? Were they DA dispute free? Does that mean they get off Scot free?
The Lopez family believes that because there was a conflict of interest between Joe and the DA, the DA should have recused himself from the case. Quite the opposite, he vigorously pursued it. They also believed that the only reason Joe's lawyers didn't strive to enforce the recuse was because they were in cahoots, or were intimidated by the DA.
When Joe's case landed on the DA's lap, he felt like the bug flew into the spider's web, with the spider looming menacingly above him and grinning like a Cheshire cat. And thus, the genesis of Joe's dilemma. If the Lopez family believes that Joe was set up, or that it was a payback, they've got reason to believe so.
As fate would have it, Joe was convicted and sentenced to 32 years.
Efforts to release him on parole have been rejected because he refuses to plead guilty. After being caged like a songbird for six years, you'd think he'd be anxious to fly away, but he won't. Like the young G.W. and the cherry tree, he refuses to tel a lie. A lesser person, or a much wiser person, depending on how you see things, would have already said it, no screamed it, "Yeah, what the hell, I'm guilty! Get me out of here!"
It seems like lying is the norm nowadays; like a contagious disease. Witness the current "Limas-Rosenthal lawyer lying contest" in our courts. If Joe decides to lie to get out of prison, we will understand and won't blame him. Besides, everybody lies to a degree. Lawyers lie to win cases, politicians lie to get elected, presidents lie to start wars, folks like Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity of Fox News lie to mislead. It's a freaking lying world out there. It's time for Joe to lie himself out of prison. It's time for him to say goodbye to his cell mates. It's time for him to join us in the world of liars. He might not like it, but it's certainly much better than a restrictive prison cell.
Seriously, if Joe can't get the newly-elected and highly respected District Attorney Luis Saenz to review his case, lying might be his only way out. Once he's out he can start anew; a "new beginning." He can call his new band, "El Grupo Genesis de Joe Lopez."
Ya basta, beautiful song bird. It's time to come home, to sing to us.
0 comments:
Post a Comment