Courtroom Observations

I’m not a legal expert, but I have some observations from the proceeding.

First, I thought the County Attorney’s lawyer (sorry, I didn’t get any names) was pretty good in court and effectively conveyed his points. He showed poise, confidence, strength, and a command of the law.

The District Attorney’s lawyer… not so much.

He seemed timid, soft spoken, and unsure of himself. He had the law on his side and won his points, but I thought he could’ve been stronger and more confident.

I was impressed by Judge Arditti. She seemed like she’s taking an active role in her defense. By now you probably know that I pay attention to greetings, body language, and expressions. My observation was there were a couple of times in the hearing that Arditti seemed frustrated with Leeds and Caballero.

What I’m interested in watching is if this case becomes about yet another one of Caballero’s crusades involving conspiracy theories, personal vendettas, smear campaigns, and sensationalism at the expense of Arditti’s defense. Again, that’s just my opinion.

Remember, at the end of the day, Caballero and Leeds job is to get their client off the hook. The responsibility is to their client. As this case develops, what I’m going to be watching is if Caballero and Leeds actions are accomplishing the ultimate goal gaining an acquittal for their client.

I’m pretty sure that’s what Arditti’s going to be watching.
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The proceeding was very entertaining to watch. In my opinion, Caballero spent a lot of time trying to be confrontational with the judge. The question I had in my head the entire time was, what do these tactics accomplish?

I’m pretty sure I read this somewhere but I think Caballero should keep this in mind. Is what I’m doing, getting me what I want?

The judge was incredibly patient with Caballero. But on several occasions he let Caballero know who was boss and put her in her place. He raised his voice, told her to sit down, and did a pretty good job of not reacting to her provocations.

It was interesting to watch Caballero as she was getting beat. Caballero is not exactly a poker face. She wears her frustration all over her face. She has a tell. In my opinion, when she’s losing, that’s when she becomes confrontational.

A couple of times during the proceeding when Caballero wasn’t getting her way, she acted in a way that reminded me of my teenage daughter when she doesn’t get her way. In my opinion, it was desperation personified.

Couple of interesting points during the proceeding that I think you’ll find interesting.

Caballero mentioned the fact that several of the people that she subpoenaed were members of ACTS.

That’s a Catholic retreat that is held annually. I don’t remember if that’s the reason the judge used the words “conspiracy theory” when addressing Caballero or not, but I know that many in the audience laughed at that point.

Later there was a theory floated around by Caballero that mentioned the fact that many of the people that have been charged with some level of corruption in this community are females.

No one laughed, but I now know what the sound of a room full of people rolling their eyes sounds like.

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I shared an elevator with Robert Vance, who is Arditti’s ex-husband and father of the bailiff that was hired by former Judge Manny Barraza. He and an unidentified court reporter (with a cheesy goatee that made him look like a Civil War re-enactor) were discussing the fact that the judge wanted to hear part of the proceeding earlier in the day. They expressed a negative impression of the intended change in schedule. Good intuition on their part.
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I have admit, I was impressed with Stuart Leeds. He has the passion and strength of Caballero, but without the confrontational attitude. Seems like he knows just exactly how far to push things with the judge and then stops at the appropriate time.

But I think there is a major bit of hypocrisy going on between Caballero and Leeds.

Lets take a comment that Leeds makes regarding the Ethics Commission. When referring to county employees that are allowed to run for office and maintain their employment with the county, Leeds is quoted in the El Paso Times as saying, “The taxpayer is being cheated out of an honest day’s work in this situation”.

Which is really interesting.

I wonder how he feels about the fact that tax payers of El Paso County had to pay, according to an estimate from the County Auditor, about $300 per hour for the county employees that had to be in the hearing because of the subpoena from Leeds and Caballero?

The work those employees are supposed to do still has to get done, so someone else has to pick up the slack. I agree with Leeds, “The taxpayer is being cheated out of an honest day’s work in this situation.”

And finally, speaking of the issue regarding county employees being permitted to run for office while employed by the county, Caballero said something pretty hard to believe.

The judge said something from the bench like, I think one of the arguments that Mrs. Caballero makes is that Callan didn’t have to resign to run. Is that the policy of the DA’s office?

The DA responded with something like, that is true, he did not have to resign to run.
That’s when Caballero spoke up saying, “I’ve never seen that policy. I’m unaware of that policy.”

The County Attorney’s office stood up and said that Caballero was being disingenuous because she was at the Ethics Commission meeting the day before. That’s the same meeting where Leeds made his remarks regarding that very policy.

She’s also been critical of the fact that county employees can run for office while employed by the county on the campaign trail. I’ve got hours and hours of footage of the various debates and forums that I have filmed so I’ll find the video and post it here later.
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More than one attorney apologized to the visiting judge for Caballero’s demeanor in court. Luis Aguilar stated, “…The El Paso Bar is extremely professional and we hope you don’t hold that (pointing towards the defense) against the El Paso Association”.
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Theresa Caballero had to correct the visiting judge. He kept referring to her as Mrs. Caballero. She corrected him and said she was a Ms. not Mrs. (I wonder if she’s ever been married, maybe I’ll check that out?)

The judge corrected himself later in the proceeding.

Caballero asked the judge about something and he replied, “Yes sir.”

He quickly corrected the slip.