THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2009
CLASSIFIEDS15
KANSANCLASSIFIEDS
CRIME
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This image from a video clip released on Thursday, May 7, 2009 by the City of Corpus Christi, Texas, shows unidentified state school residents in a staged fight. District Judge Jose Longoria turned over this and other video lawyers for the mother of a former state school resident.
No use of video in fight club case
BY CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
Associated Press
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Texas judge dealt a major blow Tuesday to the case against a man accused of filming late-night "fight club" bouts at a state facility for the developmentally disabled, ruling that videos of them could not be used at trial.
State District Judge Sandra Watts granted former employee Timothy Dixon's motion to suppress the cell phone on the grounds that it was stolen property, and delayed his trial until prosecutors can appeal.
Prosecutor Doug Mann said the setback did not destroy the state's case because there will be witness testimony, but that the phone had been "the best evidence."
"The best recollection in the world will not be better than the time and date stamp on a video," Mann said.
In March, almost 20 videos dating to 2007 were discovered on the phone that was found at a clothing store. The videos showed staff at the school forcing residents into fights, even kicking them to egg them on.
Eleven staff members were identified and six were charged. One pleaded guilty Monday and another has been offered immunity in exchange for her testimony. None of those charged still works at the school.
On Monday, David Herrera, who found the phone, said he did not initially intend to take it to authorities. Only after taking it home and finding the videos did he decide to offer it to two television stations. When they both passed on it, Herrera's girlfriend took it to an off-duty police officer, Herrera said.
After Watts indicated Monday that she was leaning toward keeping the phone out, prosecutors argued Tuesday that the distinction was that it had been found in a public place, constituting abandonment, rather in a private place where it would have been theft.
But Watts rejected that argument, siding with Dixon's attorney Ira Miller in saying that the state had presented no evidence that Dixon had intentionally abandoned the phone. Miller declined to comment.
"This is not a popular decision and I understand that," Watts said. "I don't have any choice in this case."
Also Tuesday, Watts scheduled the sentencing of former school employee D'Angelo Riley, 23, for Thursday. Riley pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of causing injury to a disabled person, a third-degree felony.
Trials against three other former employees are scheduled for late July and August.