Another Texas lawman jailed, fined after incident with illegal aliens

A third former Texas law enforcement officer has been railroaded into jail by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton after an incident involving illegal aliens. Guillermo Hernandez, a former deputy sheriff, fired shots at a sport utility vehicle after the driver refused to stop and tried to run him down.

Hernandez was sentenced March 19 to one year and a day in prison and ordered to pay $5,347 in damages to an illegal alien whose teeth were injured in the incident. He had been charged with violating 'under the color of law' the civil rights of a Mexican woman who was being smuggled into the United States in an April 2005 incident. Hernandez told investigators that the driver of the vehicle tried to run him down after he stopped it for running a red light, and said he spotted at least eight persons lying down inside the vehicle.

The deputy sheriff’s boss, Sheriff Letsinger, has questioned why Sutton ever brought charges. The sheriff said Hernandez 'followed the letter of the law' in defending himself in the incident.

Rep. Sam Johnson, a Texas Republican, said that although an initial investigation cleared the deputy, the Justice Department began its own investigation a year later based on the testimony of illegal aliens in the van. Sutton also prosecuted Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean following an illegal alien incident. They are currently serving lengthy sentences in jail.