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Houston Chronicle May 22, 1998
By STEVE LASH WASHINGTON -- A House Judiciary subcommittee Thursday voted to subpoena the Justice and Defense departments for any and all documents related to the shooting death of a goatherd last year by a military patrol near the Texas-Mexico border. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, sought the subpoenas because, he said, the Clinton administration has failed to disclose sufficient details about the death of Esequiel Hernandez Jr. Smith, who chairs the Immigration and Claims Subcommittee, alleges Hernandez was shadowed by a Marine patrol, then shot to death. The committee's 6-0 vote, with one abstention and five members absent, enabled Smith to make good on his Tuesday threat to compel the Justice Department to produce the documents. The agency delivered some documents Wednesday afternoon but not enough to satisfy Smith, who still see unresolved questions a year after the shooting. Hernandez, 18, was tending his family's goats near Redford, a rural community close to the Rio Grande. Military authorities say the teen-ager, who carried a .22 rifle to ward off thieves and snakes, fired twice in the direction of the patrol. Smith said Hernandez might never have seen the Marines, who were wearing camouflage uniforms. A Presidio County grand jury declined to issue any indictments after a two-week investigation in the summer of 1997. A federal grand jury also issued no indictments. The Justice Department concluded its criminal investigation in February, according to Smith. The lawmaker, who said he first sought documents from the Justice Department in July, said he hopes to shed light on who decided to put the Marines near Redford, what training the soldiers had and why nobody has been reprimanded for the killing. "Did someone really believe that a youth with a .22 rifle had decided to conduct a frontal assault on a team of United States Marines?" Smith said. "Did they think that their only option was to shoot him?" During the 20 minutes after firing his rifle, "Hernandez moved slowly along a ridge, exposed from all sides," Smith said. Meanwhile, the Marines "shadowed him, maintaining their concealment," he added. When Hernandez raised his rifle again, Marine Cpl. Clemente Banuelos from 150 yards away "put the cross-hairs of his scoped M-16 on the youth's chest and pulled the trigger," Smith said. Houston attorney Jim Lavine, who represents Banuelos, said his client has been "fully investigated" and found not criminally responsible for Hernandez's death. "We would certainly be willing to cooperate with his (Smith's) committee," Lavine said. Although he has not had difficulty with document requests of the Defense Department, Smith said the extraordinary step of issuing a subpoena was necessary to ensure quick compliance with the subcommittee's investigation. Five Republicans joined Smith in voting for the subpoena. The subcommittee's top Democrat, Rep. Melvin Watt of North Carolina, abstained. Justice Department spokeswoman Christine DiBartolo said the agency provided the committee on Wednesday with all the documents that would not impede state and local investigations of the incident. However, she added the agency will provide any additional documents as requested in the subpoena and in keeping with the department's desire not to impede other investigations, she added. Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said: "The Defense Department welcomes the opportunity to accommodate Congressman Smith and the subcommittee. We feel that we've cooperated with every previous investigation, and we will certainly cooperate in every way we can in this instance." The Hernandez shooting also dominated a House debate Thursday on an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would authorize the training of U.S. troops to assist in drug interdiction efforts on the Mexican border. The amendment passed by a vote of 288-132, despite an effort led by Rep. Sylvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, and other Texas members to defeat it. Reyes said beefing up the U.S. troop presence on the border would only create further tensions between border residents and the military, which have yet to ease a year after the goatherd's death. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, issued the strongest attack, saying the amendment would, "make the Mexico-Texas border look like East Berlin after World War II." Reyes offered a substitute amendment that would have required the approval of the Justice Department before troops could be dispatched to assist in anti-drug efforts along the border. It was defeated by a vote of 243-149. |
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