Candidate Cori Harbour-Valdez's Other Client

As you know 327th District Court candidate Cori Harbour-Valdez and fellow candidate Alexandria Serra have taken some heat for their social media missteps as of late.  

Serra basically never mentioned to anyone at any time that she was a former jail magistrate judge, probably because she didn't want people asking why she was a former jail magistrate. Turns out she was allegedly asked to resign by the El Paso County Council of Judges - because of her social media. 

Cori Harbour-Valdez was under heat for posting a picture of her smiling next to Chapo Guzman's wife on her Facebook page. She was asked about the photo at a recent candidate forum and in her answer she mentioned something I just took as a throw-away line but I now know what she meant by it. 

Her response was - and I'm paraphrasing here - words to the effect of defending the constitution and ensuring that the government meets their burden, even in cases involving unsavory clients. 

I remembered it because of her word choice about unsavory clients.  When she said it, I took it to mean her client that was connected to Chapo Guzman.

Truth is - I don't know exactly what she meant by the statement. But it sure is interesting now that I know something else very interesting about Harbour-Valdez. I was sent a screenshot from someone from Martin Paredes blog alleging something I didn't think was true so I checked it out. 

Multiple sources indicate that it was actually accurate.

Turns out that up until 2020, she represented one Mr. Patrick Crusius.

I hate even writing his name so from now on, I'll just refer to hm by the name everyone else knows him by - The Walmart Shooter. That is probably who she was talking about. 

I know, it turns your stomach given the impact that piece of filth had on this community. He drove 500 miles to come hunt Latinos. As she's said before in forums - though she never volunteered this particular situation - she does a lot of federal defense work. The US government is going to try the 8/3 Shooter and I presume, though I don't know for certain, she was appointed to his case. 

For background, the federal courts have a system for assigning council to indigent cases not unlike that of the state courts. According to a source in the courts, though rare, counsel does have the right to refuse a case. 

One of the central tenants of our legal process is that everyone deserves a defense. That's an easy premise to accept when you're the individual accused of a crime, or if you know of someone innocent that is accused of a crime. Where the faith of our system is tested is when you have those rare cases of extreme crimes. That's when people start to think to themselves, maybe not everyone is entitled to a defense. 

But we all are. 

Even the absolute worst of us. 

Even that guy. 

And if it were you, you'd want a rigorous defense. 

I was unable to find any information as to why she was removed from the case in 2020. I mention that because she was also taken off the other case she had with a co-defendant of Chapo Guzman.