All Out for October 30 March/Vigil to Demand Justice for Luis Gutierrez

All Out for Oct. 30 March/Vigil in Woodland, CA to Demand Justice for Luis Gutierrez, Farmworker Killed by Police on April 30!

Activists Continue to Press for Justice for Luis Gutierrez!

October 30 March/Vigil in Yolo County to
Demand Independent Federal Investigation
Into Killing of 26-Year-Old Farmworker

By CORAL WHEELER

On Saturday, August 22 more than 300 people mobilized at the Yolo County courthouse in Woodland, Calif., to press their demand for an independent federal investigation into the killing of 26-year-old farmworker Luis Gutierrez. Gutierrez was killed on April 30, exactly six months ago, in Woodland "during an encounter with peace officers employed by the Yolo County Sheriff's Department," according to the DA's Office.

Officers said they stopped Gutierrez at about 2 p.m. as he was walking home from the Department of Motor Vehicles after passing his driver's license test. Three undercover "gang-suppression" officers, dressed in plainclothes and driving an unmarked car, approached Gutierrez on a freeway overpass to question him about gang activities, according to Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto.

Prieto said the shooting occurred after Gutierrez ran from the deputies, then turned and lunged at one with a 4-inch folding knife. Court documents in the case said Gutierrez was struck in the back of the neck and that deputies fired a half dozen shots.

Gutierrez's family has questioned the official account, saying he was a homebody with no gang ties or criminal record. The case provoked questions and outrage in Woodland and throughout the region. Many wondered whether Gutierrez understood that the men in street clothes chasing him were law enforcement officers.
Furthermore, according to the recently completed investigation by the Woodland Police Department, Gutierrez was not a gang member, meaning that Sheriff Ed Prieto indiscriminately labeled Gutierrez as a gang member without proof.

As a result of the huge and growing public outcry, a citizen's panel headed by former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso has been formed with the aim of examining the April killing of Gutierrez. Reynoso, who was vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1994 to 2004, said the private panel was needed because of the close-knit nature of Yolo County law enforcement (they openly call themselves a "brotherhood") and what he called a lack of responsiveness by elected leaders.

"Nothing supplants the power of citizens looking at the actions of public officials," Reynoso told a Sept. 10 press conference on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento. Jose Santos Gutierrez, Luis's father, also spoke. After wiping away tears, he said that he despaired of ever finding out the truth about what happened to his son on April 30, but hoped the citizens' review might shed some light.

"For me and my son it will not be useful," he said in Spanish. "My son will not return. But what we're doing is no longer for my son, but for the rest of the nation, for all the children and teenagers. You can't just kill for the fun of it. My son was killed for fun, for entertainment."

The Cruz Reynoso citizen's panel of nine members will hold its first fact-finding session on November 22. The first witness will be Jose Santos Gutierrez.

Activists in the region have been mobilizing regularly to demand justice for Luis Gutierrez. They have welcomed the Cruz Reynoso citizen's panel, but note that it does not supplant the need for an independent federal investigation. [See statement below by coalition organizer Al Rojas.]

The Yolo County Community Justice Coalition is organizing a march/vigil on Friday, October 30 in Woodland to press for quicker action on this case. "Luis Gutierrez was killed unjustly six months ago," the coalition's leaflet states, "and there is no justice as of yet. Why?"

All supporters of immigrant and democratic rights are invited to participate in this community action, which will take place at 6 p.m. at the Woodland DMV @ 825 East Street/Gum in Woodland. For more information, please call Al Rojas at 916-712-4251 or contact .

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Statement by Al Rojas, Organizer for the Yolo County Community Justice Coalition

The intent of the Cruz Reynoso Commission hearings -- which will be held by a nine-member citizen's panel -- will be to allow all those Yolo County residents whose civil rights may have been violated by Yolo County Judicial and Law enforcement agencies to document those violations. It is our hope that similar hearings could take place in many other communities to shed light on all those cases where persons been unfairly accosted and convicted, where their civil rights have been violated without cause.

We can no longer stand by on the sidelines and close our eyes to this type of violence against residents and youth, who have a right to walk the streets at all hours of the day and night.

Cruz Reynoso is a 73-year-old person of integrity and is very respected in our community. He didn't have to step up to the plate, but he did -- much more than some of our so-called local leaders. For that we are very grateful.

The legal implications of an anti-gang unit stopping and killing a young man with no gang ties are inescapable. Once we accept what happened with Prieto's false identification, an even bigger issue arises. If sheriff Ed Prieto was able to hoodwink the community and label Luis as a gang member with absolutely no proof, how many others have also been falsely identified as gang members?

The reason the community is calling for an independent investigation is because too many interconnecting relationships exist in Woodland among the Sheriff's office, the Woodland Police Department and the District Attorney. The Sheriff has lost the most legitimacy at this point; he has falsely condemned at least one person as a gang member, and about a year ago he violated constitutional doctrines of fair trials by locking people out of court proceedings.

The Woodland Police Department, although not involved in the death of Luis Gutierrez, has tarnished its image beyond objectivity. Days after Gutierrez was killed, the Sheriff's office used Woodland Police evidence, a two-year-old incident where Gutierrez was a passenger in a vehicle being driven by a presumed gang member, to obtain a search warrant to enter Gutierrez's residence.

The fact that the Woodland Police Department and the Sheriff's office shared evidence to obtain a search warrant alone is too unsettling to go unnoticed. A federal probe is needed to settle all the unanswered questions that still exist. Why was Luis stopped if he was not a gang member? Why did the Sheriff lie?

The answers to these questions are not out of our grasp, but it will continue to take community involvement to reach a final resolution.

"SI SE VA PODER !!
Al Rojas
(916) 712-4251
http://www.lclaasacramento.com