Police Power vs. Police Abuse: The Case of Virgilio Augilar-Mendez

 This is one sad tale.  Sad for our country, sad for the State of Florida, and especially sad for a very young immigrant from Guatemala.  In this case, a young man came illegally to the United States, was part of the "catch and release" immigration policy of the Biden Administration (an administration that fails in its duty to enforce the law, that's a story for another day), and made his way via family connections to Florida, where he was a day laborer picking crops in the fields while he waited for his turn in the immigration court system.  Through no fault of his own but through the fault of an overzealous LEO looking to add to his arrest body count through illegal means, this young Guatemalan is in custody, charged with aggravated manslaughter in the death of that same LEO.

Virgilio Aguilar- Mendez traveled from a tiny village in Guatemala to the United States.  Virgilio speaks very little English and very little Spanish.  His language is Mam, a dialect spoken by only a small population in Guatemala.  Virgilio shared a Motel 8 room with three other laborers who helped him by getting him food and transporting him to and from the vegetable and fruit fields.  Because he was in the immigration court system, Virgilio had every right to work and walk the sidewalks, just as an American citizen would have those rights. 

Let me digress a minute to explain Terry v. Ohio, 392 US 1 (1968).  Without going into details, this case establishes the parameters that define when police have the power to stop and search Americans without a search warrant.  Americans have a Fourth Amendment right to privacy, and police cannot randomly stop and search people on the street.  For police to make such a stop, the person must be suspected of (1) getting ready to commit a crime, (2) being in the progress of committing a crime, or (3) just finished committing a crime.  For these reasons to apply, a reasonable person must agree that one of those three conditions exists.  The person cannot be searched without a warrant; the Terry stop, also known as a stop-and-frisk, only allows a pat-down of the person to ensure there is no weapon that might endanger the LEO making the stop.  The LEO is not allowed to search the person or their belongings without a search warrant.

It was a balmy May evening.  Virgilio had taken a break from eating his take-out dinner on the stoop of his motel room to stand on the sidewalk and use his cell phone to talk with his mother in Guatemala.  The LEO in question, Sgt. Deputy Michael Kunovich, pulled up in his marked police car, called in a "suspicious Hispanic male" notification to his dispatch, asked for back-up, and exited the car.  Once he was out of the car, Kunovich immediately launched into a loud, accusitive demeanor, demanding to know what Virgilio was doing, why Virgilio walked away when he saw the police car, and why Virgilio was eating outside rather than inside his motel room.  Kunovich grabbed Virgilio, who was not resisting, and told him to stop pulling away.  Kunovich then proceeded to accost Virgilio physically and attempted to push his hand into Virgilio's pocket, where Virgilio had the cash from working that he was going to send to his family in Guatemala.  Virgilio had the natural reaction to safeguard his cash, placing his hand over Kunovich's hand.  Virgilio, speaking neither English nor Spanish, tried to explain to Kunovich that he had been eating and kept saying "sorry, sorry."  

More LEOs arrived and four or five of them, all burly LEOs, subdued the small 5'4", 115-pound Virgilio by shoving him to the ground and deploying tasers on him multiple times, even on his spine.  Despite Virgilio repeating that he did not speak English, the LEOs kept shouting and threatening Virgilio in English.  Once Virgilio had been handcuffed, he still managed to pull a small pocketknife out of his pocket to show the LEOs, saying "watermelon" in Spanish as he tried to explain that the tiny one-inch blade was what he used in the fields to harvest watermelons.  The pocketknife never was opened; no LEO was in danger from a closed pocketknife.

Once Virgilio was cuffed and in the squad car, Kunovich turned off his bodycam and went over to the paramedics, who suggested he sit on the ground.  Kunovich collapsed and died despite attempts at resuscitation both on the scene and at the hospital.

The police report is interesting, to say the least, when compared to the body cam footage.  The report said Virgilio resisted at first; this is not true.  The report said Virgilio attempted to wrest the taser form the LEO; in fact, Virgilio was trying to keep the taser away from him, not take the taser away.  Lastly, the report indicated that Virgilio assaulted the LEOs when in fact it was the opposite; the LEOs were assaulting Virgilio, rather brutally when one considers that Virgilio was tased on his spine.  The Sheriff of St. John's County held a press conference where he promoted the lies that (1) Virgilio was trespassing and (2) Virgilio had threatened the LEO with a knife.

The medical examiner said that Kunovich died of multiple natural causes:  high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, and cardiac dysrhythmia that caused a fatal heart attack.  Despite the question of why a big LEO could not subdue a small man, never mind the illegality of that action, there is no action whatsoever taken by Virgilio that caused the Kunovich's heart attack.  Yet, the St. John's prosecutor has Virgilio jailed on aggravated manslaughter in the death of Kunovich.

A competency hearing was held to determine whether Virgilio was competent to stand trial.  The prosecution neglected to consider Virgilio's command of any language or his cultural behavior.  The defense provided evidence that Virgilio's culture made him think the prosecutor was his friend, that the prosecution was there to help him, and that Virgilio should agree with anything a person in authority would say, despite not understanding what was said.  The defense also presented evidence that Virgilio himself has intellectual challenges.  The judge ruled that Virgilio was not competent and needed competency training before the trial could occur.  

The public defenders recently submitted two motions to the court.  The first being that the bail requirement should be eliminated, and Virgilio should be released on his own recognizance.  The elimination of bail only means that Virgilio will go from the custody of the jail to the custody of the immigration court.  Virgilio would not be free, per se.  The second motion was to dismiss the charges completely, given the video evidence that the LEO died of natural causes and that the charges against Virgilio should be dismissed.  Again, Virgilio would not be free to do; he still would be remanded into the custody of immigration officials.

The court has not ruled on the motions by the defense.  One would hope, in the name of true justice, that the charges would be dismissed, and Virgilio would be allowed to continue to the immigration court system.  One wonders if, after the mistreatment by the aggressive St. John's County LEOs and the conviction-hungry district attorney, Virgilio would even want to stay in the United States.

Stay tuned.

Rule of Law vs. Rule of Man

The Declaration of Independence established the reasons for the colonies to separate from England.  Thomas Jefferson was eloquent as he wove the philosophies of John Locke into the explanation for the purpose of government.  To put it simply, the purpose of government is to protect the rights of its people.  Period.  For that purpose, the people give the government power to govern -- but only by the consent of the governed.  When that compact is broken, when the government oversteps its reach and encroaches on the rights of the governed, it is not only the right but the duty of the people to throw off an abusive government and establish a new one that better protects its citizens.  The Rule of Law needed to replace the Rule of Man (otherwise know as the King of England).

The first government of the United States as a confederacy (little "c" folks, stay with me here).  A confederacy is a loose association, not a tight organization.  As I explained to my students, it's like having a casual friend -- okay to hang out with occasionally but they are not your ride-or-die.  The states under the Articles of Confederation were like little independent countries.  They could make treaties with other countries, have their own military, coin their own money, and the national government really didn't have any power over the states.  A couple of states almost came to violence over a border dispute.  States enacted protective tariffs so that their own citizens would buy goods made in the state rather than in the neighboring states.  To put it simply, the United States was a hot mess.

Poor George Washington.  He had led a rag-tag army of volunteers, poorly fed and poorly equipped, to defeat the preeminent European power of England.  After seven years of war, he went home to Mount Vernon, only to watch his new country fall apart with squabbling between the states.  He and a few other prominent men met in Annapolis and decided to convene another convention in Philadelphia, this time to craft another government, one that was strong enough to hold the country together yet constrained enough not to step on the rights of its citizens or of the states.

Enter the diminutive James Madison.  Mr. Madison arrived at the Constitutional Convention with a PLAN.  This plan called for a strong national government but the powers of that national government would be enumerated.  Powers not given to the national government would belong to the states and to the people.  To avoid the rule of man -- the rule by whim or fancy or self-interest -- there would be checks and balances to the power of the national government.  The U.S. Constitution laid out a plan for a Constitutional federal republic and, with some bumps and bruises along the way, seemed to be working fairly well.  The United States would be a country where the law ruled.

The twenty-first century arrived along with big money buying big political clout.  The executive branch had worked over the decades at seizing more and more power.  Presidents were bought and paid for by political machines with shadow mega donors.  Presidents sent crates of money to foreign countries that historically were not allies of the United States.  Members of the executive branch were not held to account for actions (or lack of actions) that resulted in the deaths of Americans.  Taxes increased, and increased, and increased.  

Such problems filtered down to the state level, with state prosecutor offices being filled with people who operated not according to the rule of law, but the rule of man, specifically the political agendas of the left.  Criminals went unprosecuted if their skin color was dark; white people not only were prosecuted but persecuted and accused of racism without cause.  Rioters and looters faced no repercussions for their actions.  People and stores fled the cities because the police had no power to enforce laws; the poorest sections of cities became food and medicine deserts when groceries and pharmacies were forced to leave by the rampant crime.  

The United States, now in 2024, has become a country where the rule of law takes a back seat to the rule of man.  Politics rules.  The Southern border with Mexico, thanks to Joseph R. Biden, the current executive in the White House, has become an open gateway to criminals, drug cartels, baby selling, and sex trafficking.  Biden ordered the border to be open; Biden ordered the border patrol to stand down, and the past three years of the Biden Administration have allowed over eight million people to stream in from the southern border.  These are not people referenced in the poem on the Statue of Liberty, the tired and poor yearning to be free.  These are Asians, Africans, military age men from the Middle East, and terrorists flooding into our country.  There are many men from Syria, striding into the U.S. wearing matching boots and backpacks.  We are being invaded.  Hotels, airports, and other public places have become camping sites for homeless illegal immigrants.  Students in NYC were told they had to take classes online because their school was being turned into a shelter for these illegal aliens.  A school for special needs students in North Carolina is being closed for the same reason.  American children who need education and special services are being turned out of their schools thanks to the lawlessness of the Biden Administration.

Because the Biden Administration has failed to enforce immigration laws and has allowed millions of illegal aliens to stream across the southern border, Texas had to work to secure its border.  The Biden Administration filed suit to stop Texas.  The circuit courts approved a temporary injunction to protect Texas but the Biden Administration appealed to the Supreme Court.  The Biden Administration issued a deadline to Texas.  In response, 25 governors pledged their support for Texas in its efforts to protect itself against invasion since the Biden Administration has abrogated its responsibility as assigned in Article IV of the Constitution.

The Biden Administration has turned the United States from a country where the Rule of Law protected its citizens to a country where the Rule of Man (and politics) infringes on the rights and safety of its people.

The Rule of Law needs to be upheld.  The Rule of Man needs to stop.