Harlingen Pastor Daniel Hayes’ lawyers join Cameron County
DA’s call for Texas State Bar Disciplinary investigation

Harlingen Pastor Daniel Hayes’ lawyers join Cameron County DA’s call for Texas State Bar Disciplinary investigation

Defense attorneys representing Pastor Daniel Hayes today joined Cameron County prosecutors, calling for an investigation into professional misconduct in Hayes’ case. Hayes is accused by the County of practicing medicine without a license, theft, Medicaid fraud, and sexual assault.

Last week Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos announced to reporters that his office would file a grievance against lead defense attorney Bob Bennett saying Hayes’ lawyer made “extrajudicial statements” in the press. Bennett responded today, saying he welcomes an official investigation and expects such an inquiry to expose misconduct on the part of Cameron County prosecutors.

Bennett said an investigation would prove, among other things, that prosecutors made false promises to the accused in attempt to elicit incriminating statements, that they used racially based investigation methods, that they violated Pastor Hayes’ rights by setting too high a bond, that they coerced statements from alleged victims, and that they seek to manipulate press coverage of the trial proceedings.

First, prosecutors acted in bad faith when they reneged on a promise to allow Pastor Hayes to present exculpatory evidence to the Cameron County District Attorney. If this* was not persuasive, Pastor Hayes would have been willing to appear before a Grand Jury and answer allegations. After months of cooperating with investigators, Pastor Hayes was stunned by an ambush “surprise” arrest that sparked local and national media reports. Though the agreement was documented by Bennett and sent to Assistant District Attorney Michael T. Kiesel. Kiesel responded to deny the agreement, and another ADA, Cynthia Maldonado refused to honor the deal.

At the time of Hayes’ arrest, Maldonado recommended a bond of $200,000 - an amount that far exceeds the nature of the crimes of which Pastor Hayes’ is accused. The bond was eventually reduced by a district judge who agreed the County had provided no evidence that Pastor Hayes’ represented a danger to public or that he would attempt to flee from prosecution. The recommended bond is also highly questionable, considering Pastor Hayes’ 18-month track record of cooperation with the investigation, that no victims timely reported the allegations and considering the deal defense lawyers had reached with Villalobos.

Next, the defense team alleges prosecutors engaged in witness tampering, saying the three women who claimed they were assaulted by Pastor Hayes did so under pressure from investigators. This theory is supported by the fact that, since initial reports about the accusations surfaced, at least two of the three women now confirm they were never injured by Pastor Hayes (see attachment). Hayes’ lawyers say they believe that the women were pressured into lying and that Pastor Hayes’ race was the primary factor investigators used when making photo identification.

After making early and inflammatory remarks to the media that characterized Pastor Hayes as having allegedly raped one of the three women, and making public claims that three victims had “come forward” though he knew this to be untrue, Villalobos filed a gag order (see “State’s Motion To Suppress Publicity” attached) in district court last week, seeking to suppress pretrial publicity. Prosecutors have also taken extraordinary measures to control public information. Though the County traditionally operates under an open file policy, defense lawyers were stunned when their oral discovery requests were denied. This is especially true since the Defense team provided documents to Villalobos but he has refused to reciprocate. Villalobos filed a motion to restrict trial publicity without any explanation as to why the Hayes’ case would be handled differently than the hundreds of other cases handled by the DA. Clearly, prosecutors intend to benefit from salacious media reports that contain misrepresentations, while simultaneously squelching Pastor Hayes’ right to respond to such public allegations.

Bennett said he was confident, under Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, which govern how attorneys are to act, that defense team members’ statements to the media were justified in response to prosecutors public statements. Bennett added he felt obligated to join the DA’s call for an investigation, because the same laws that govern trial conduct also require all Texas attorneys to report the misconduct of their colleagues.