Aguirre testifies before Grand Jury

The man himself, Captain Mark Aguirre, testified for four hours before the grand jury that's apparently looking into charges against him for the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. Unfortunately, as grand jury proceedings are secret, there's not much meat to this story. What we do get is a little Line In The Sand drawing from Aguirre's mouthpiece:

[Aguirre's] lawyer said if an official oppression indictment is handed down, the captain will plead not guilty and request a trial.

"There won't be any plea bargain," attorney Terry Yates said. "He is not guilty of any police misconduct, procedurally, or any illegal conduct, criminally."

I so hope that happens. I'd consider taking time off from work to watch that trial. Please, please, please let there be a trial.

We also get a little trash talking between Aguirre's attorney and Chief C.O. "BAMF" Bradford's attorney:

Yates repeated allegations Friday that Aguirre, a 23-year-veteran, was targeted for punishment because of an earlier run-in with Police Chief C.O. Bradford.

"Instead of saying, `Hey this may not be a popular effort but it's needed for the safety of the public,' ... (Bradford) did just the opposite," Yates said. "He did that just to get back at Aguirre regarding that prior incident on aggravated perjury."

Aguirre accused Bradford of perjury in May after Bradford's testimony in a disciplinary hearing over whether Aguirre used profane and threatening language toward subordinates in 2001. Bradford has been indicted on the perjury charge, and his trial is scheduled for Jan. 21.

Bradford's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said Bradford, who is suspended pending the outcome of his trial, had nothing to do with the investigation into the raid.

"What Terry Yates said outside the grand jury is silly, self-serving tripe," Hardin said. "Chief Bradford has never made any allegation against Aguirre and is not even at the Police Department right now.

"The allegations against Aguirre were made by police officers who found him to be an oppressive wild man and secondly by citizens who felt they were wrongly treated. ... I can assure you that the district attorney's office is not carrying water for Chief Bradford in this investigation."

By the way, do you ever wonder where people like Terry Yates and Rusty Hardin learned their battle skills? Well, wonder no more.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 23, 2002 to K-Mart Kiddie Roundup | TrackBack